Max Verstappen roars to United States GP pole as Oscar Piastri falters again

Max Verstappen continued his momentum towards the F1 world championship charge after roaring to pole position for the United States Grand Prix. 

After winning the Sprint, Verstappen dominated qualifying at Austin, setting a 1:32.510 for his first effort in Q3, some 0.394s faster than Lando Norris.

However, on his second lap, Verstappen actually missed taking the flag to start his second push lap, meaning his time stood as the benchmark, which Norris was unable to beat.

He could only manage a 1:32.801, just seven-thousandths faster than Charles Leclerc in third as Lewis Hamilton was fifth.

Championship leader Oscar Piastri was a lowly sixth, having used old tyres on his first Q3 run, before only posting a 1:33.084 to bank a third-row slot. 

If the drivers were to finish in those positions in the race, Verstappen would be 38 points behind Piastri, with Norris 12 points behind with 141 left on the board.

Q3

On the first runs in Q3, Verstappen posted the blistering 1:32.510 which ultimately secured him pole position for the first time in Austin since 2021, with Norris his closest competition.

Despite getting the hurry-up from engineer Gianpiero Lambiase on his out-lap, Verstappen failed to cross the timing line in time, and could not complete his second flying lap, but it was enough to bank a seventh pole of the season from Norris.

Leclerc suffered a spin out of the final corner on his first Q3 lap, leaving him 10th, but he climbed to P2 originally, before Norris went 0.006s faster to secure the front-row berth - a repeat of the Sprint race front-row.

Elsewhere, Hamilton suffered a Turn 1 lock-up on his first Q3 lap, but recovered from ninth to go P5, just ahead of an out-of-sorts Piastri who continued his record of being a couple of tenths behind Verstappen and Norris all weekend.

The top 10 was rounded out by George Russell in fourth, Kimi Antonelli in seventh, Oliver Bearman in eighth, Carlos Sainz in ninth, and Fernando Alonso in 10th. 

Tsunoda falls again in Q2

In Q2, Yuki Tsunoda's Red Bull woes continued with a 13th-place elimination, after accusing Liam Lawson of "disturbing me on purpose, like slowing down like hell in corners."

On a final lap, Tsunoda posted a 1:33.466, but this was only good enough for P13, 0.106s slower than Lawson ahead who was also eliminated. The Japanese driver did complain however that an Alpine had blocked him in the final sector, but the car was off line. 

Nico Hulkenberg was the first driver to fall, in P11, just 0.096s from safety and Bearman, but did have a lap deleted for track limits, as did Lawson. 

The other two Q2 eliminees were the Alpine duo of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto in 14th and 15th, respectively, with both drivers going slower in Q2 than they did in Q1.

Up front, Verstappen topped the segment from Leclerc and Norris.

Just before the segment started, Norris radioed in that he required a steering wheel change for his second Q2 run, after the left-hand grip had become detached whilst in the pit-lane.

Hadjar crashes in Q1 before track limit violations

The start of Q1 was only a few minutes old when the red flags were thrown for Isack Hadjar crashing at Turn 6 on his first flying lap. 

The Racing Bulls driver lost the rear of the car, and hit the wall nose-first to end his run of being the only driver on the grid not to have a Q1 exit in their career.

At the end of the session, Alex Albon vaulted from 19th to eighth, but the time was quickly deleted for a track limits breach at Turn 15, meaning Colapinto earned a late reprieve as he dropped back to 19th, but will start 18th following Lance Stroll's five-place grid penalty for hitting Esteban Ocon in the Sprint.

Stroll's own lap was deleted for Turn 12 track limits, with the Canadian placing 18th, although he will swap with Albon. 

Ocon was eliminated in 17th place for Haas, with Gabriel Bortoleto the final Q1 eliminee, less than a tenth slower than Colapinto.

Elsewhere, Norris was forced to abort his first flying lap after a mistake at Turn 9, but was safely through, as Verstappen, Russell, and Antonelli topped the segment.