Russell crash hands Norris Austin pole ahead of Verstappen

Lando Norris can thank George Russell for his latest pole position after the Mercedes driver crashed late in qualifying for the United States Grand Prix.

McLaren driver Norris had delivered a stunning lap on his first run around Austin's Circuit of the Americas to edge Verstappen by 0.031s after the three-time F1 champion had dominated the first two sessions.

After a consummate lights-to-flag victory in the sprint earlier in the day, the Dutchman was back to his best in a Red Bull that has had its issues of late but appears to be providing him with a ride far more to his liking again.

Verstappen was two-tenths of a second faster than his nearest rival in Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in Q1, and a quarter-of-a-second clear of Carlos Sainz in Q2 as he was purple in all three sectors.

But the 27-year-old did not have it all his way, however, as in the pivotal Q3 Norris delivered on the first run to leave his title rival under pressure.

Verstappen responded by purpling the first sector, only for Russell to bin his Mercedes in a barrier, bringing out double-waved yellows and ending the session.

For McLaren, it is the team's first pole position in the United States since Lewis Hamilton in 2007, but pole is not a given at this track as the driver who has led away the field on the previous 11 visits has only gone on to win on five occasions.

Sainz completed the top three ahead of Leclerc and the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri, followed by Russell.

Alpine's Pierre Gasly was a superb seventh ahead of Fernando Alonso in his Aston Martin, with Kevin Magnussen ninth quickest in his Haas, with Sergio Perez 10th in his Red Bull.

The Mexican had his first lap in Q3 deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 9, and was denied by Russell's accident from setting a time on his second.

Hamilton shocker

It proved to be a disastrous qualifying session for seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton.

The Mercedes driver had qualified inside the top five on all 11 of his previous visits to one of his favourite tracks, but he could not have conjured a worse performance on this occasion.

Sitting in the bottom five as he embarked on his final flying lap on new soft tyres, Hamilton made a wretched mistake at Turn 12 that saw him bleed lap time in the middle sector before crossing the line with a time over a second behind leader Verstappen.

By the conclusion of the 18-minute session, Hamilton finished 19th on the timesheet, with only Stake's Zhou Guanyu slower. The Chinese driver set the slowest time for the sixth consecutive race.

Hamilton will move up one place to 18th as Liam Lawson serves a heavy grid penalty for multiple power unit component changes.

Lawson, who has replaced Daniel Ricciardo at RB, was a stunning third quickest in a Q1 in which Williams pairing Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto also exited, alongside the second Stake of Valtteri Bottas with the 16th, 17th and 18th best times.

They will all start ahead of Lawson, who played a minimal role in Q2, scrubbing in a set of tyres on one run and providing team-mate Yuki Tsunoda with a tow on two others before finishing without a time to his name.

Lawson's efforts proved in vain, however, as Tsunoda was only 11th quickest in Q2, missing out by 0.032s to Magnussen, whose team-mate Nico Hulkenberg lines up 12th ahead of Alpine's Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll in his Aston Martin.