Verstappen beats Norris and Piastri to pole during thrilling Sprint Qualifying in Austin

Max Verstappen has taken pole position for the Sprint at the United States Grand Prix, the Dutchman putting in a stunning lap during the final moments of Sprint Qualifying to beat both McLaren cars.

Lando Norris had set the pace through the session, the Briton having topped SQ1 and SQ2 before initially looking to have repeated this feat in SQ3. But it was Verstappen who went fastest of all, the Red Bull driver’s effort of 1m 32.143s putting him just 0.071s clear of Norris.

The other McLaren of Oscar Piastri was just over three-tenths off Verstappen’s time in third, while Nico Hulkenberg caught the eye by slotting his Kick Sauber into P4. Mercedes’ George Russell followed in P5, ahead of the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.

Williams’ Carlos Sainz bounced back from limited running in FP1 to take seventh on the grid, while team mate Alex Albon claimed ninth. Lewis Hamilton was sandwiched between them in what looked to be a tricky session for Ferrari, with his team mate Charles Leclerc rounding out the order in 10th.

Days after being confirmed as a Mercedes driver for 2026, Kimi Antonelli just missed out on reaching SQ3 by only 0.006s. The Italian was joined by Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar, who exited in P12 ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in P13.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson, meanwhile, both had their lap times deleted due to track limits, meaning that neither recorded a time to put them in 14th and 15th places.

A number of drivers failed to reach the line in time to complete their final runs in a frantic finish to SQ1, with Haas’ Ollie Bearman (P16), Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda (P18), the other Haas machine of Esteban Ocon (P19) and Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto (P20) suffering this fate, the latter not getting a time on the board at all after his first was deleted for exceeding track limits.

Also exiting in the first segment of Sprint Qualifying was Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, the Argentinian driver ending the session in P17.

AS IT HAPPENED

SQ1 – Norris fastest as several drivers run out of time

After Norris set the pace during the weekend’s sole practice session earlier on Friday, the attentions of the paddock turned to Sprint Qualifying, which would decide the grid for the fourth Sprint of the campaign on Saturday.

As the 12-minute SQ1 session – in which the medium tyre is mandatory – got underway at 1630 local time, Hadjar was the first to hit the track as a queue of cars started to peel out of the pit lane in increasingly warm conditions, with air temperatures in the range of 33 degrees Celsius.

“A lot of gusts and a lot of wind changes,” Bortoleto reported, just as the Kick Sauber driver saw his first lap time deleted for exceeding track limits. Verstappen, meanwhile, had gone fastest once all 20 drivers had put a lap on the board, the Red Bull driver setting an initial benchmark of 1m 34.140s.

While Hamilton sat in P2 – 0.086s adrift of Verstappen – his Ferrari team mate Leclerc had found himself in danger down in P16, the Monegasque at risk of elimination along with Gasly, Ocon, Colapinto and Bortoleto.

As the final minutes ticked down and the field returned to action for their decisive final runs, Tsunoda voiced his concerns that he would not reach the line in time to start a lap – and this prediction proved correct, pushing the Japanese driver down to P16 and out of the session.

Ocon also failed to cross the line before the chequered flag, eliminating the Haas driver in P19, while others who did not make it in time included Bearman, Bortoleto and Lawson, with the former two exiting in P16 and P20 respectively while Lawson had done enough to progress in P10.

Leclerc, meanwhile, could only improve to P13, but this also was sufficient to ensure that the Ferrari driver would go on to compete in SQ2.

With Gasly moving himself up to 15th, the Alpine driver escaped an early exit – but his team mate Colapinto did not, having found himself down in 17th. At the other end of the timesheets, Norris went fastest on a lap of 1m 33.224s, 0.139s quicker than Verstappen.

Knocked out: Bearman, Colapinto, Tsunoda, Ocon, Bortoleto

SQ2 – P1 again for Norris as Antonelli exits

After that busy finish to SQ1, focus quickly shifted to SQ2, a 10-minute segment in which the medium tyres are again mandatory. While some drivers remained in the pits during the opening stages, Verstappen was keen to hit the track and set the early fastest time.

Norris then displaced the Dutchman to go quickest on a lap of 1m 33.033s, putting him 0.130s ahead of Verstappen while team mate Piastri was three-tenths back in third. Ferrari, meanwhile, looked to be having a tougher time, Hamilton and Leclerc having slotted into P9 and P10 respectively.

Of the drivers in the drop zone, only one – Stroll – had set a time, with Hulkenberg, Hadjar, Lawson and Gasly all opting to do just one push lap in the closing minutes. And while Norris and Verstappen chose to stay in the pits during the final moments, the rest of the field tried to improve in order to progress to SQ3.

Hadjar moved himself up to P10, pushing Leclerc down to P11, while Lawson had his time deleted for exceeding track limits. As Hulkenberg surged up to P5, Leclerc was dropped back even further – but the Monegasque did enough to get himself through in P8.

The pressure was then on Hamilton to escape the danger zone, and the Ferrari man just improved to snatch P10 – pushing Antonelli down into P11 as a result, with the margin between them standing at just 0.006s.

Knocked out: Antonelli, Hadjar, Gasly, Stroll, Lawson

SQ3 – Verstappen beats Norris by 0.071s

With eight minutes going on the clock for the crucial top-10 shootout – with the soft tyres required for this segment – Russell hit the track early to put his first lap on the board, the Mercedes driver enjoying plenty of free air before being joined by the Williams cars of Albon and Sainz.

Russell’s initial effort was a 1m 32.888s, with Sainz only 0.023s behind while Albon was two-tenths adrift in third. And as the closing minutes of the session arrived, the rest of the pack started to emerge as they prepared for their own flying laps.

Hulkenberg continued his impressive run by going fastest, but this was soon beaten by Norris, the Briton surging through on a 1m 32.214s. Piastri placed himself in second, three-tenths away from his team mate, but Verstappen – the last man to cross the line – went even quicker, taking pole thanks to his effort of 1m 32.143s and beating Norris by just 0.071s.

This put Hulkenberg in fourth – his best grid slot since his podium-claiming weekend at the British Grand Prix in July – ahead of Russell in fifth and Alonso in sixth.

The Williams duo of Sainz claimed P7 and P9 respectively, while the Ferrari pair of Hamilton and Leclerc took P8 and P10 in what seemed to be a tricky outing for the Scuderia.

Key quote

“It’s been a nice Qualifying," said Verstappen. "Throughout all of the segments, we were quite close. It was just about putting it all together at the end when it matters most, which is not easy because you go to the soft compound with no reference.

“It worked out well. I still expect it to be a tough battle tomorrow with the Sprint, but that is exactly what we want to see, right? So yeah, I’m excited for tomorrow and happy with today."

What’s next

With the grid decided, the drivers will line up for the Sprint at 1200 local time on Saturday. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can catch the action.