Leclerc beats Norris to United States GP pole

Charles Leclerc has secured pole position for the United States Grand Prix, taking his third pole of the season.

After the first run of laps in Q3 the Monegasque driver set the fastest time, with Lewis Hamilton for company on the provisional front row.

Verstappen then set the fastest time on his second effort but had his lap time deleted for exceding track limits at Turn 19, demoting him down the order.

Leclerc's second effort saw him set a 1:34.723 and lower the benchmark further, taking his first pole position since Belgium, with Lando Norris managing to pip Hamilton for a spot on the front row.

With Hamilton third, he will be joined on the second row of Sunday's starting grid by the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz.

George Russell was fifth with Verstappen ending up in sixth after having his time deleted.

An Alpine fourth row sees Pierre Gasly lead team-mate Esteban Ocon while Sergio Perez and Oscar Piastri rounded out the top 10.

Perez just escapes elimination

Sainz and Norris were under pressure for their final laps in Q2 as both complained of encountering traffic on their first attempts.

They sat 14th and 15th respectively ahead of their final runs but managed to lift themselves out of the drop zone.

Failing to make the top 10 were the two AlphaTauri drivers, with Yuki Tsunoda getting the better of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

Ricciardo returned to the wheel this week after sitting out the last five races, but could only muster 15th in qualifying to Tsunoda's 11th.

Tsunoda narrowly missed out on a Q3 slot as Red Bull's Perez was just 0.018s faster at the chequered flag.

Zhou Guanyu managed to outqualify his Alfa Romeo team-mate Valtteri Bottas in 12th, while Kevin Magnussen ended up in 14th.

Double Aston Martin Q1 exit

The track was still in a heavy evolution stage in the first segment of qualifying, with all cars bar Carlos Sainz taking to the circuit in the final moments to ensure they didn't fall into the drop zone.

However, a shock was on the cards for Aston Martin, with both of its cars eliminated in Q1 despite upgrades being fitted this weekend.

Fernando Alonso ended the session in 17th place, behind the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg, marking the first time this year that the double World Champion has failed to see Q3.

Team-mate Lance Stroll was 19th, sandwiched between the Williams' of Alexander Albon and Logan Sargeant.

Stroll, who has endured a difficult run of late, suffered his sixth consecutive Q1 exit.