Verstappen snatches US Sprint pole as Hulkenberg shocks with P4, Ferrari stumble
Max Verstappen left it late and then stole the show. The Red Bull driver was the last man over the line in a breathless Sprint Qualifying at Circuit of the Americas and pinched United States Sprint pole by 0.07s from Lando Norris, with championship leader Oscar Piastri settling for third after what he called a “scruffy” final push.
It was one of those COTA sessions where the track just kept coming to you. Times tumbled, sectors lit up, and the final minute turned into a knife fight. Verstappen, who’d been hovering rather than dominating, hooked it up when it mattered to edge the McLarens and bank an important first strike for Saturday.
The surprise of the hour — and a very welcome one — was Nico Hulkenberg. The Sauber veteran was lively in FP1 and carried that form all the way through to SQ3, where he delivered a lap good enough for fourth on the grid, splitting the heavy hitters and giving Hinwil its best Sprint Qualifying result to date.
“In P1 things were looking good already, almost too good to be true,” Hulkenberg said, grinning. “We weren’t sure who was doing what with their programs, but we managed to keep that trend going.” He did more than that — he put Sauber on row two and gave them a genuine shot at Sprint points on merit.
Behind him, George Russell led Mercedes in fifth with Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin in sixth. Carlos Sainz hustled the Williams to seventh, ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari in eighth after a scruffy session for the Scuderia. Alex Albon backed up Williams’ punch with ninth, while Charles Leclerc could only manage 10th as Ferrari searched for grip and an answer.
Further back, Kimi Antonelli missed the cut for the top-10 shootout in 11th, a decent recovery after a tight SQ2. Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson bookended a mixed hour for Racing Bulls in 12th and 15th, while Pierre Gasly took 13th for Alpine ahead of Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin. Haas had a bruising one: Oliver Bearman in 16th and Esteban Ocon 19th, split by Franco Colapinto’s Alpine. The headline that’ll sting in Milton Keynes? Yuki Tsunoda down in 18th in the sister Red Bull. Gabriel Bortoleto rounded out the order in 20th for Sauber.
For the title picture, Piastri starting third is hardly a disaster — especially with a racy McLaren underneath him and Norris alongside Verstappen. But when the margins are this tight, and the Sprint points this precious, a front-row lockout missed by tenths will nag. Verstappen, meanwhile, keeps on finding ways to turn tense qualifying sessions into track position when it counts.
The grid for the United States GP Sprint
1. Max Verstappen — Red Bull Racing
2. Lando Norris — McLaren
3. Oscar Piastri — McLaren
4. Nico Hulkenberg — Sauber
5. George Russell — Mercedes
6. Fernando Alonso — Aston Martin
7. Carlos Sainz — Williams
8. Lewis Hamilton — Ferrari
9. Alex Albon — Williams
10. Charles Leclerc — Ferrari
11. Kimi Antonelli — Mercedes
12. Isack Hadjar — Racing Bulls
13. Pierre Gasly — Alpine
14. Lance Stroll — Aston Martin
15. Liam Lawson — Racing Bulls
16. Oliver Bearman — Haas
17. Franco Colapinto — Alpine
18. Yuki Tsunoda — Red Bull
19. Esteban Ocon — Haas
20. Gabriel Bortoleto — Sauber
Expect the Sprint to be elbows-out. COTA rewards commitment, the dirty air on that long, climbing Turn 1 approach can turn orderly lines into chaos, and the two McLarens have been happiest in race trim this season. Verstappen’s pole puts him in control, but with Hulkenberg lurking in P4, a fired-up Williams pair, and Ferrari desperate to salvage momentum, this one’s set up to be busy.
The world champion’s trump card? He’s made a habit of winning the traffic management game — even on days when he’s not the outright fastest. McLaren will need a clean launch and teamwork to break his rhythm. Everyone else will be circling for crumbs, and at COTA those crumbs can turn into a feast in a heartbeat.
