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max verstappen Title-tussling falls again mclaren couple lando norris And oscar piastri To claim pole position for Saturday’s sprint United States of America Grand Prix.
The four-time world champions have temporarily re-emerged as a title contender, having beaten the McLaren pair in each of the last three races and moving to within 63 points of championship leader Piastri with six rounds remaining.
McLaren are adamant that the Dutchman is a threat in the title race and he underlined that point again with a superb lap to snatch pole from Norris by just 0.071 seconds.
Norris came into the weekend 22 points behind Piastri in the standings, and finished ahead of his team-mate in each of the last three races.
Pre-weekend discussion was dominated by McLaren’s announcement that Norris was facing unspecified sporting consequences, blamed on a pair of wheels colliding during the first lap in Singapore a fortnight ago.
He has so far dismissed all that discussion as his quest to overhaul Piastri continues AustinThere are 33 points up for grabs, including eight for winning Saturday’s sprint.
The 25-year-old appears to have taken the lead over the Australians on the sweeping Texas circuit, and has displayed blazing pace in the only practice session by topping the first two sessions of sprint qualifying.
He led a charge on provisional pole as Piastri was more than three tenths clear of his team-mate, but it was Verstappen who rose to the top of the charts.
“It worked well, but I still expect it will be a tough battle in the sprint tomorrow, but I think that’s exactly what we want to see,” Verstappen said.
Top-10 – US Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying
1. Max Verstappen
2. Lando Norris
3. Oscar Piastri
4. Nico Hulkenberg
5. George Russell
6.Fernando Alonso
7. Carlos Sainz
8.Lewis Hamilton
9. Alex Albon
10. Charles Leclerc
“I’m excited for tomorrow and happy with today. I hope we have good pace in the race, but we’ll find out tomorrow.”
Nico Hulkenberg Sauber finished an impressive fourth, ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell.
A “heat threat” has been declared for the second consecutive race, with temperatures expected to exceed 31 degrees Celsius at the Circuit of the Americas on Saturday and Sunday.
Ferrari faced another difficult season. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc both entered the final qualifying sprint at the death, but posed no threat to the leading cars, with Hamilton eighth on the grid and Leclerc 10th.