Verstappen Secures Pole in Austin as Norris and Leclerc Complete Top Three
- Damian Hall
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen will start Sunday’s United States Grand Prix from pole position after delivering a composed lap of 1:32.510 at the Circuit of the Americas, beating McLaren’s Lando Norris and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in a tight qualifying session marked by gusty conditions and fine margins.
“It was good. I think every segment, the car was very strong,” said Verstappen. “Just trying to put the lap together around here is sometimes very tricky. It’s very hot and very windy, especially in that first sector where the tailwind makes it difficult. The first run in Q3 was good and I managed to improve a little bit from Q2. Unfortunately I couldn’t do my final run, it was a bit messy with the out-laps, but luckily we didn’t need it.”
Verstappen’s early lap in Q3 proved enough to seal pole after late traffic disrupted most drivers’ final attempts. Norris pushed hard but fell short by 0.291 seconds, while Leclerc recovered from an earlier spin to secure third. The top five were separated by less than half a second, showing just how close the field is around the fast, flowing Austin circuit.
“It was a bit more of a struggle today for whatever reason,” said Norris. “Yesterday I was comfortable and I don’t know if it’s just everyone else improved a bit, or the wind hurt us more, but we were both struggling to put the laps in and be as quick as this guy [Verstappen]. We were pushing and I’m still happy with P2. It could have been worse, but there was no chance we could have got pole today. I look forward to hopefully having a good race with Max.”
Leclerc was upbeat after securing Ferrari’s best qualifying result of the weekend so far.
“It was quite a big surprise, especially considering the weekend has been very difficult for us since the beginning,” he said. “We tried to put everything together in qualifying and managed to do so, but there are still things we need to understand with this car because there’s too much swing in performance across the weekend. Our car is normally stronger in the race, so that’s a positive. Hopefully we can stay close to Max and Lando tomorrow.”
Behind the front three, Mercedes’ George Russell qualified fourth, while Ferrari’s Sir Lewis Hamilton completed the top five after recovering from an early lock-up at Turn 1.
Championship leader Oscar Piastri will start sixth for McLaren, admitting afterwards that he struggled to find his rhythm during the session.
“I didn’t really make any mistakes, just didn’t feel like I really got into a rhythm for the whole session, just struggled,” he told Sky Sports F1. “We’ll go and have a look at why, obviously. But, yeah, that was obviously a battle.”
Rounding out the top ten are Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli (7th), Haas rookie Oliver Bearman (8th), Williams’ Carlos Sainz (9th), and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso (10th).
Further down the grid, Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg will start 11th after narrowly missing out on a Q3 appearance. He’ll line up ahead of Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson (12th) and Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda (13th), who were also eliminated in Q2. The Alpine duo of Pierre Gasly (14th) and Franco Colapinto (15th) complete that group after neither driver managed to improve on their final attempts.
Behind them, Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto starts 16th after being knocked out in Q1, followed by Haas’ Esteban Ocon (17th), Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll (18th), and Williams’ Alex Albon (19th), all of whom struggled to find grip as the wind picked up.
At the back, Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar will start 20th after crashing into the barriers at Turn 6 before anyone could set a time. The French rookie lost control under braking and brought out the red flags, ending his session early. He walked away unharmed.
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