Max Verstappen beat Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to pole position for the Saturday Sprint race at the United States Grand Prix.
Norris led the two opening qualifying segments, but a blistering lap from the reigning champion on a sizzling Circuit of The Americas pinched top spot for good. Verstappen set purple times in the first and last sectors to set the benchmark at 1m32.143s, pipping Norris by just 0.071s for first on the grid.
“It’s been a nice qualifying,” he said. “I think throughout all the segments we were quite close. It was just about trying to put it all together when it matters.”
The result is significant for Red Bull Racing, which arrived in Austin assuming the circuit and its plentiful long, medium-speed turns would favor McLaren. While Verstappen said race pace remained unclear after just one practice session, he was hopeful he could convert.
“This has been … a very good day,” he said. “I still expect it to be a tough battle tomorrow in the sprint, but that’s exactly what we want to see.
“I hope we’ll have good pace in the race, but we’ll find out tomorrow.”Norris’s session-best middle sector wasn’t enough to overcome the Red Bull pace, but was more than enough to keep ahead of teammate Piastri, whose best lap left him 0.38s off pole and 0.309s behind the sister car, though his best time was sufficiently fast to keep him third on the grid despite the margin.
Nico Hulkenberg was a shock fourth for Sauber in the German’s first top 10 appearance of the year in any qualifying format, lapping 0.502s off the pace.
George Russell followed in fifth after Mercedes made him one of only three drivers to complete two fast laps on a single set of tires in the eight minute SQ3 session.
Fernando Alonso will line up sixth ahead of Carlos Sainz, who also completed two laps in SQ3.
Lewis Hamilton led the way for Ferrari in eighth ahead of Alex Albon, whose two-lap strategy wasn’t fast enough for a better grid spot, and a disappointed Charles Leclerc in 10th.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli missed out on SQ3 by just 0.006s to a late-improving Hamilton, leaving him 11th on the grid. The Italian could blame a lock-up at Turn 11, the left-hander leading onto the back straight, for costing him a shot.
Isack Hadjar was knocked out 12th ahead of Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll.
Liam Lawson will line up 15th after having his sole lap deleted for running wide at Turn 19, though the time would have been fast enough for only 14th. The Kiwi, however, lamented being held up by the Ferrari drivers on that single attempt, ruining the lap before he exceeded track limits.
