Max Verstappen Secures Pole for US Grand Prix Sprint, Lando Norris in Fourth

Max Verstappen, representing Red Bull, claimed the pole position for the sprint race at the United States Grand Prix, placing himself ahead of his title competitor, Lando Norris, who finished fourth in his McLaren. Verstappen outpaced George Russell of Mercedes by a mere 0.012 seconds to secure the top spot in Austin. Charles Leclerc from Ferrari was the third fastest, trailing Verstappen by 0.226 seconds, while Norris was 0.250 seconds off the pace in fourth.

Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes secured the seventh position, inserting himself between Haas drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen. Meanwhile, Norris’ teammate, Oscar Piastri, was disqualified in the first session for exceeding track limits at the penultimate corner, placing him 16th for the sprint start. Sergio Perez from Red Bull also faced challenges and was knocked out during the second session, set to start at the 11th position.

The sprint event, structured to offer eight points for a win, decreasing to one point for the eighth place, is scheduled for Saturday at 19:00 BST. The outcome was a setback for Norris, who needs to gain nearly nine points per race on Verstappen to challenge for the title, especially with both Red Bull and McLaren implementing car upgrades this weekend.

Afterwards, Verstappen expressed satisfaction with his performance, mentioning, “We had a good day. The car was working quite well and happy to be first. It’s been a while.” McLaren, noted for having a competitive car, has seen Norris gradually close the gap on Verstappen since the Dutch Grand Prix in late August. Norris, however, described his day as “not very good,” stating struggles with “balance and set-up” throughout the session. He commented, “Happy with P4 because it could have been a lot worse, but the lap was shocking.” He downplayed McLaren’s recent upgrades, suggesting no significant improvements led to his current performance.

Mercedes introduced their first major upgrade in months, which appeared to yield positive results initially. Russell expressed his delight, “Really happy because it’s been a while since we’ve been on the front row. The car has been feeling great so far with these upgrades. It’s close but surprised ourselves a little bit with that P2.” Russell and Hamilton had an early run during the session at Circuit of The Americas but were delayed when Williams’ Franco Colapinto spun at Turn 12. Hamilton, frustrated by this incident affecting his lap, remarked, “Just got unlucky with the yellow flag, I was 0.4secs up. The good thing is the team has made a step with the car, the upgrade has clearly worked.”

Andrea Stella, the McLaren team principal, commented on their approach this weekend: “After a busy few weeks back at the factory to consolidate and strengthen our championship campaign, we now head to Austin. We’re only six races away from the end of the season but there are still a lot of points on the table. Many teams will be bringing updates in these final races, so we expect some close competition.”