Max Verstappen bemoans hat-trick near-miss thanks to Red Bull 'kangaroo'

Max Verstappen bemoaned a "not good" final qualifying session for the United States Grand Prix that cost him a third consecutive pole position.

After claiming top spot on the grid at the last two races in Malaysia and Singapore, four-time F1 champion Verstappen was firmly in the mix for scoring a hat-trick of poles.

After the first run in Q3, Red Bull driver Verstappen was just under two-tenths of a second shy of Mercedes' championship-chasing Kimi Antonelli.

None of the top three, however, including Isack Hadjar in his RB22, were able to improve, whilst the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton did not mount a challenge that their practice pace had suggested they could lock out the front row.

Describing his session, speaking to Sky Sports F1, Verstappen said: "Q3 was not good.

"Q1 and Q2 were nice, but then, for whatever reason, on both sets [of tyres], I just didn't have a good balance.

"There were no mistakes, but just no grip and the car started to slide a lot.

"On the final lap, you can see it's not really happening with the tailwind in places, so you try to push a bit more, you hit the bump wrong, the car is like a kangaroo, and you have a massive slide, so you know the lap is over.

"Just not very happy with Q3, to be honest. Not what I wanted, not what I expected, but if it's still a P2, I take it."