Max Verstappen will start the sprint race at the Circuit of the Americas in pole position, beating the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
The defending world champion just did one flying lap in SQ3 and his lap time of one minute, 32.143 seconds was enough to edge out the papayas. Lando Norris, who was quickest in SQ1 and SQ2, had to settle with second fastest and yet is one grid position ahead of his teammate and title rival Oscar Piastri.
Nico Hulkenberg was the star of the sprint qualifying, the Sauber driver confirming his strong practice pace with a superb fourth place on Saturday’s sprint grid.
Hulkenberg stayed well ahead of fifth-placed Mercedes driver George Russell, with Fernando Alonso an impressive sixth for Aston Martin.
Carlos Sainz claimed seventh for Williams, following a gearbox issue in practice that restricted him to just nine practice laps ahead of sprint qualifying.
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc could only manage eighth and tenth respectively for Ferrari, being split by Alex Albon.
In the second sprint qualifying phase, which required the use of medium tyres, it was all business at the front with Lando’s one minute, 33.033 seconds lap leading from Verstappen, Piastri and Russell.
Foreshadowing its tricky performance in SQ3, Ferrari had a much more stressful session with both Hamilton and Leclerc on the verge of elimination after the first runs, sitting in ninth and tenth respectively.
Leclerc fell into the drop zone until a late improvement saw him move up to eighth, placing the pressure on Hamilton, but the seven-time world champion just managed to get through on his final attempt.
Hamilton grabbed P10 at the expense of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, whose lock-up cost him much more time than the tiny 0.006 secinds margin that saw the Mercedes driver knocked out.
Isack Hadjar followed fellow rookie Antonelli out in P12, ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll. Liam Lawson was also out in P15 after not getting a lap in, blaming traffic on his final attempt as he drifted off the track in Turn 19.
The first round of sprint qualifying, also on medium tyres, devolved into a chaotic situation at the end of the segment as drivers scrambled for space and time to start their final flyer.
Red Bull’s under-pressure Yuki Tsunoda was the main victim, dropping out in P18 after fighting Racing Bulls colleague Lawson on the out-lap and unable to get a second lap in before the clocks hit zero.
Oliver Bearman was the first driver to miss the cut-off in P16, followed by Franco Colapinto who did get a final lap in but was not quick enough, while his Alpine teammate Gasly did manage to escape the drop zone.
Esteban Ocon also dropped out in P19, which is extra frustrating for Haas as it installed a significant floor update on both of its cars for sprint qualifying, but unfortunately not able to reap the rewards.
A frustrated Gabriel Bortoleto will start last after not even getting a lap in. The Sauber driver’s first lap was scrapped for crossing track limits at the exit of Turn 19, while he also did not make it over the finish line in time at the end.
Nice to see the top three championship contenders starting in the top three grid slots for the sprint race. Going to be interesting if Nico Hulkenberg can score a solid result for Sauber. Roll on the sprint.
United States Grand Prix, sprint qualifying results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:32.143
2 Lando Norris McLaren 1:32.214
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:32.523
4 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:32.645
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:32.888
6 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:32.910
7 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:32.911
8 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:33.035
9 Alexander Albon Williams 1:33.099
10 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:33.104
11 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:34.018
12 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 1:34.241
13 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:34.258
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:34.394
15 Liam Lawson No time
16 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:35.159
17 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:35.246
18 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull 1:35.259
19 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:36.003
20 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber No time
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.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/verstappen-beats-norris-and-piastri-to-pole-during-thrilling-sprint.2k4RbPhpuYVB21GcJx7Eb5
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko concedes that Max Verstappen “needs some help from McLaren” to secure an outside-bet fifth Formula 1 title in 2025 – an eventuality he teasingly suggested was not impossible.
Verstappen sits 63 points away from Oscar Piastri’s championship lead, although has an opportunity to make a small dent in that from sprint race pole at the United States Grand Prix; Piastri starts third ahead of the 19-lap race on Saturday.
Prior to the summer break, Verstappen had been 97 away from Piastri’s lead and almost out for the count, but Red Bull’s progress with its RB21 has given the four-time champion a platform to reel off two wins and two second-place finishes in the four races since.
Verstappen previously stated that a win in Singapore would have made his title ambitions more realistic, an opinion Marko largely agreed with. The 82-year-old Austrian added that, while McLaren would have to stumble significantly to help Verstappen loom into the frame, he felt that this was certainly a vague possibility.
“Since Zandvoort, we were always fighting for P1, P2. So the direction is okay. Unfortunately, this turnaround came a little bit late,” Marko said.
“All this [discussion about] medium speed, the temperature and all these stories, they don’t count anymore. We are there.
“And if in one corner we may be [off the pace], it’s going within thousands of a second. It’s not like it was before, half a second or so in some sectors.
“It shows that our car made a big step forward and Max, of course, is using it to the maximum. If we would have made this turnaround earlier, the championship would look different.
“I think we can’t do it on our own. We need some help from McLaren. It’s not impossible.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/marko-verstappen-needs-help-from-mclaren-for-not-impossible-f1-2025-title/10768553/
McLaren Formula 1 team boss Andrea Stella says Max Verstappen’s Austin sprint pole confirms Red Bull can now win everywhere, but in the Texas heat the Italian still thinks McLaren has an ace up its sleeve.
In sprint qualifying McLaren’s Lando Norris led Max Verstappen in the first two qualifying segments run on medium tyres. But in the final top 10 pole decider on softs Verstappen managed to pip Norris to pole by 0.071s for Saturday’s shorter race, with championship leader Oscar Piastri further adrift in third.
For McLaren, it serves as further confirmation that Red Bull is really back on form, but also that the Woking-based squad itself has stabilised its performance after a run of more difficult circuits for its MCL39 car.
“I think this is actually a relatively genuine representation of the competitive field being very close at the top,” team principal Stella told Sky Sports F1. “It confirms that Red Bull have definitely improved their car. They are competitive now and can fight for victories and pole position on every kind of circuit.
“It’s also positive to see that our car here is competitive compared to some other venues in which we struggled a little bit.
“It’s not the result we wanted – we are here for pole positions, obviously – but I think it’s a good foundation for the sprint race tomorrow and also a good foundation to see where we can finetune the performance a little bit and give it another go at the pole position tomorrow.”
With ambient temperatures of over 30C and track temperatures heading north of 40C, Stella thinks Austin’s Circuit of the Americas is one of those demanding circuits where McLaren’s ability to keep is trye wear and temperature under control can prove key to defeat Verstappen over the course of the Texan weekend.
“Here in Austin we should observe more tyre degradation,” he said. “The conditions are very hot. I think we come from races where it was a little bit of a procession because there wasn’t much tyre degradation.
“I would expect here that the race or the sprint may be more entertaining and there could be more variability based on the behaviour of the tyres. Normally our car is decent when there is tyre degradation.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/andrea-stella-us-gp-heat-can-give-mclaren-way-to-beat-max-verstappen/10768547/
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were left disappointed after sprint qualifying for the United States Grand Prix sprint race.
After qualifying in eighth for the sprint race at the Circuit of The Americas, Hamilton told Sky Sports F1, “That was definitely not the pace we’re expecting.”
When asked what had gone wrong for the Maranello outfit on the Friday, Hamilton added: “It was looking good in practice and SQ1 was looking pretty decent also, and then it just started to fall away from us. The car is very, very tough to drive. So yeah, it just fell away from us. I mean eight tenths is just… that’s a mountain to climb.”
Hamilton’s team-mate Leclerc only managed to secure 10th place on the grid.
“[Ferrari lacked in pace] everywhere, honestly, my lap was clean in SQ3. I don’t regret much what I’ve done in my lap,” Leclerc said. “Maybe a little bit more mileage this morning on the medium. You can fine-tune the car a little bit better, there might be a tenth in that, a tenth and a half, I don’t know, but it’s not enough. I mean we are so far behind now.”
The Monegasque driver found himself outpaced by both Williams drivers. with Carlos Sainz set to start in seventh and Alex Albon in ninth, and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, who will start the sprint race in fourth.
“I’ll be very surprised if we find something that will make us such a jump, but I hope I’m wrong,” Leclerc added.
“But unfortunately for now, it just seems like it’s the potential of our car. I’m very surprised by the teams that are very strong this weekend, apart from obviously the McLaren and the Red Bull, which is expected.
“But you’ve got Nico in front that has done probably an amazing lap, but he’s been consistently fast this weekend so we just need to understand if they understood something that we didn’t but today was a very poor day.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/lewis-hamilton-and-charles-leclerc-dejected-as-ferrari-form-falls-away-in-us-gp-sprint-qualifying/10768578/