Verstappen survives spin to take F1 Sprint pole at COTA

Max Verstappen has taken pole position for the sprint race at the Circuit of the Americas, setting a 1:34.238.

The Dutchman prevailed in the session despite a high-speed spin at Turn 9 during SQ2 which threatened to derail his outing.

Charles Leclerc, who secured pole position for the Grand Prix on Sunday, narrowly missed out on the fastest lap as he crossed the line just 0.055 behind Verstappen.

Similarly close was Lewis Hamilton, with the seven-time World Champion also clocking in less than a tenth behind Verstappen in third place.

Lando Norris once again out-qualified team-mate Oscar Piastri with the McLaren duo ending the session in fourth and fifth respectively.

Carlos Sainz was sixth, ahead of the Red Bull of Sergio Perez and Mercedes' George Russell.

Alexander Albon produced a strong session to get his Williams into ninth spot while Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10 for Alpine.

Aston Martin struggles continue

After his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda just missed out on the final segment during qualifying for the Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo narrowly failed to progress into top 10 for the sprint race and had to settle for 11th.

Aston Martin's double Q1 exit on Friday wasn't repeated for the sprint race but both cars found themselves eliminated in SQ2 with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll finishing 12th and 14th respectively.

Esteban Ocon was 13th in the second Alpine car while Zhou Guanyu was 15th, just 0.001s from pipping Stroll ahead of him.

Haas suffer double SQ1 elimination

Despite installing a major upgrade to its car for the weekend, Haas couldn't muster up the pace to advance past the first stage of the session.

Both Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen ended SQ1 in 16th and 17th respectively at Haas' home event, marking a disappointing session for the squad.

Valtteri Bottas was 18th fastest, setting the exact same lap time as Magnussen - however, as the Dane put his effort in first, he took the position.

Yuki Tsunoda was 19th and voiced frustration over the radio after failing to make the line in time before the session ended, while rookie Logan Sargeant rounded out the field.