Last-gasp Sainz lap pips Leclerc in Ferrari one-two qualifying result

Carlos Sainz edged ahead of Charles Leclerc to secure qualifying honours for the United States Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen finishing third.

Sainz's final flying lap of 1:34.356s was enough to claim Pole Position by half-a-tenth of a second ahead of Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, who will lose ten places due to a grid penalty.

This means Red Bull's Verstappen will be promoted from third to second, with the Dutchman finishing the qualifying hour one tenth away from Pole.

Teammate Sergio Perez initially qualified behind Verstappen, but his five-place grid penalty will set him back.

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, who had been leading the Red Bulls in the early stages of Q3, was unable to respond to the late improvements, but will be promoted from fifth to third.

Teammate George Russell will line up fourth, ahead of Lance Stroll, who will start in Aston Martin's best grid position of the season in fifth.

McLaren's Lando Norris finished the session in P8, but this is set to become P6 after the penalties for Leclerc and Perez.

Alonso had qualified ninth, but he is the third driver in Q3 to have a grid penalty looming over them, so will fall out of the top ten. Instead, Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas is set to take P7 on the grid.

Track limits heartbreak for Zhou

Alexander Albon narrowly missed out on a rare Q3 appearance for Williams, falling 0.027 of a second shy of pipping Norris to the top ten.

Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel is likely to be disappointed with P12 and a Q2 elimination, following the team's impressive pace in the earlier practice sessions.

AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly aired his frustration on a couple of occasions as the Frenchman struggled for front grip. He finished Q2 down in 13th place.

Zhou Guanyu looked to have progressed into Q3 for only the third time this season - originally setting a time faster than teammate Valtteri Bottas for P9 - but the Alfa Romeo driver had his time deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 12, demoting him to P14.

The pain of Zhou's lap time elimination will be two-fold, with the Chinese driver being the final one to be slapped with a five-place grid penalty.

The second AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda finished in P15, almost one second away from the cut for Q3.

Alpine and McLaren suffer in Q1

Alexander Albon narrowly edged his Williams into the second part of qualifying by just 0.017 of a second ahead of Kevin Magnussen, who was the highest-placed Haas driver at the team's home race.

McLaren and Alpine's respective aims for P4 in the Constructors' Championship were dented by the elimination of Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon respectively.

Mick Schumacher's efforts to progress were halted by a spin on his final flying lap, with the Haas driver qualifying in 19th, ahead of Williams' Nicholas Latifi.