Max Verstappen took a comfortable pole position ahead of Lando Norris after Oscar Piastri dropped to sixth in a difficult day for the title leader. It took Verstappen just one lap to confirm he was the fastest driver at the Circuit of the Americas, but Red Bull Racing was too slow in sending Verstappen out on the second lap.
The Dutchman took provisional pole position after his first run in Q3, but was the first driver to take the checkered flag on what was supposed to be his out lap of his second run. He was a sitting duck as provisional second place Norris found time on his final attack. However, Norris had a considerable lead of 0.394 seconds. Although he finished the session fastest in the final sector, he fell short by 0.291 seconds.
Verstappen was released from prison and finally took a comfortable pole position just hours after winning the sprint.
“I think the car was very strong in every segment (of qualifying),” he said. “Just trying to put together a lap around here can be very tricky.
“The first run in Q3 was good…unfortunately we couldn’t make the last run. We got a little confused on the out lap. Luckily we didn’t need that. For us it was a very strong result.”
Despite the nerves in the closing stages, Norris said he never expected to take pole position on a day when his McLaren was completely defeated by Verstappen’s Red Bull Racing car.
“I struggled a little bit more today,” he said. “We were pushing and I’m still happy with second place. It could have been worse, but we didn’t have a chance of getting pole position today.
“I’m looking forward to a good race with Max. We’ve had good races in the past, so I’m looking forward to another one.”
Teammate and title leader Piastri never competed for a place on the front row, with the Australian qualifying in sixth place, 0.574 seconds off the pace. After having to use an extra set to guarantee his place from Q2, he only had one set of new softs in Q3, but following a crash in the first-lap sprint, he performed uncomfortably on both used and new rubber.
After conceding a huge time of 0.309 seconds in sprint qualifying but still securing third place, an even bigger gap in Grand Prix qualifying allowed three cars to separate him from his biggest rival for the title.
Charles Leclerc took first place, finishing in third place just 0.006 seconds behind Norris for a stunning victory. It was a significant reversal from his dominant 10th place in sprint qualifying, and the Monegasque hinted at an explanation, but said the flurry of form in the Ferrari car was worrying.
“This was a pretty big surprise, especially considering this weekend was so difficult for us from the start,” he said. “It’s a bit too much of a swing in performance for the same weekend without fundamentally changing the car, but it was an interesting sprint race this morning. I think we learned a lot. We applied that in qualifying and it seemed to be going well, so I hope we can catch up a little bit.”
George Russell qualified fourth, 0.316 seconds off the pace, 0.086 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton and 0.258 seconds behind Piastri. Kimi Antonelli followed in 7th place, followed by Oliver Bearman, making his first consecutive Q3 appearance in his career, in 8th place. Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso are the only Williams and Aston Martin representatives, and will line up in ninth and 10th place respectively.
Nico Hülkenberg lined up in 11th place and was unable to improve his time on the final lap, missing out on repeating the sprint top ten spot by just 0.096 seconds, but his final lap was removed for exceeding the track limits.
Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson qualified 12th, with Red Bull stablemate Hiroki Tsunoda lining up in 13th place, behind the slow-moving Alpine near the racing line.
Alpine teammates Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto followed in 14th and 15th, marking the French-owned team’s first Q2 appearance since August’s Dutch Grand Prix.
Gabriel Bortleto qualified 16th, ahead of Esteban Ocon, while Lance Stroll and Alex Albon qualified 18th and 19th after their fastest laps, which would have allowed them to advance to Q2, were removed due to exceeding track limits. This was Stroll’s 13th Q1 loss during the 24-round season. The Canadian will start last in the Grand Prix after colliding with Ocon during a sprint on Saturday, resulting in a fifth-place penalty.
Isak Hajar spun just three minutes into Q1 and finished the session in 20th place with no time. As the Frenchman’s Racing Bulls car reached the apex at Turn 6, it suddenly lost control and pirouetted into the barrier with an impact of at least 25g.
result
