Max Verstappen turned Austin’s bumps into stepping stones and walked away with his seventh pole of the season, a clinical 1:32.510 that left Lando Norris and the rest of the field reaching for answers under a hot Texas sky.
Red Bull’s lead man was untouchable when it mattered in Q3, ripping almost four tenths out of Norris’s early benchmark before the final runs fizzled without a proper response. Charles Leclerc salvaged third for Ferrari despite a lurid spin at the final corner on his first flyer, while George Russell led Mercedes’ charge in fourth. Lewis Hamilton, now in red, lines up fifth alongside a subdued Oscar Piastri, who never quite found the rhythm and will start sixth.
McLaren made the story interesting before a lap had been set. Both papaya cars underwent precautionary gearbox changes after Sprint-race bruises and missed the early pit-lane scrum, but once they were on track the pace looked good—albeit more so on Norris’s side. Piastri, who came into the weekend with the points advantage, fought rear-end grip and timing all session and couldn’t get close to Verstappen’s orbit.
Q1 was lit by an early red flag after Isack Hadjar lost the Racing Bulls at Turn 6 and went in with enough force to require barrier repairs. Once running resumed, Verstappen, Russell and Kimi Antonelli pointed to a lively afternoon for Mercedes; the rookie had genuine snap, topping the early boards before a handful of track-limit deletions across the field shuffled the order.
That theme continued. Lance Stroll initially missed the cut thanks to white lines, and Alex Albon suffered the same fate when his best lap was binned after the flag. That reprieve pulled Franco Colapinto back from the brink to sneak into Q2. At the top, Verstappen looked comfortable and measured—used tyres, quick banker, job done.
Antonelli briefly had the headlines again in Q2 with a punchy 1:33.044, only for the time to be deleted for running wide at the final corner. Even had it stood, Verstappen’s 1:32.701 would have shaded it, and that was the point: the RB21 looked planted as others chased grip. The lull before the last flurry didn’t change the picture much. Nico Hülkenberg just missed for Sauber in 11th after his Friday heroics, while Liam Lawson, Pierre Gasly and Colapinto dropped out. Yuki Tsunoda couldn’t extract enough from the second Red Bull and went no further, a rare off-key Saturday for the Japanese driver.
The top-10 shootout built nicely. Piastri blinked first on used tyres and posted a 1:33.475. Norris then hustled to provisional pole with a 1:32.904—briefly. Verstappen arrived moments later and detonated the board by almost four tenths, the kind of lap that sucks the air out of a session. Leclerc’s spin at the final corner ruined his first attempt, and a late release for his second meant he didn’t make the line before the flag. His earlier time held for third, but it felt like a near-miss given Ferrari’s pace.
Behind Russell in fourth, Hamilton’s final run wasn’t quite hooked up, but Ferrari still has two cars in the top five and—crucially—track position over a tight midfield. Piastri’s sixth places him directly in the heat of it, with Kimi Antonelli a composed seventh on another assured day for the Mercedes rookie.
Oliver Bearman kept Haas smiling with eighth, and that matters around here: track position at COTA can be gold if tyre deg spikes on Sunday. Carlos Sainz, now in Williams colors, will start ninth, a tidy lap on a day when margins were razor-thin. Fernando Alonso completed the top ten for Aston Martin.
Elsewhere, Esteban Ocon couldn’t coax the Haas into Q2; Stroll’s deleted time and Albon’s last-gasp penalty for track limits shuffled the back rows; and Hadjar’s early off left Racing Bulls a car light for the remainder.
So, Verstappen on pole in Austin. He’s been here before, and with clean air and a car that looks kind on its tyres, the odds are stacked in his favor. But Norris’s long-run pace on Friday looked lively, and if Ferrari’s cooling figures let them race hard in the heat, Leclerc and Hamilton could be nuisances in the mirrors. Keep an eye on strategy—this place has a way of punishing the wrong call.
United States Grand Prix qualifying classification
1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 1:32.510
2. Lando Norris, McLaren, 1:32.801
3. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 1:32.807
4. George Russell, Mercedes, 1:32.826
5. Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, 1:32.912
6. Oscar Piastri, McLaren, 1:33.084
7. Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, 1:33.114
8. Oliver Bearman, Haas, 1:33.139
9. Carlos Sainz, Williams, 1:33.150
10. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, 1:33.160
11. Nico Hülkenberg, Sauber, 1:33.334
12. Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls, 1:33.360
13. Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull, 1:33.466
14. Pierre Gasly, Alpine, 1:33.651
15. Franco Colapinto, Alpine, 1:34.044
16. Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber, 1:34.125
17. Esteban Ocon, Haas, 1:34.136
18. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, 1:34.540
19. Alex Albon, Williams, 1:34.690
20. Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls, no time
Sunday’s run up the hill to Turn 1 is always spicy. With Verstappen on the inside, Norris ready to gamble, and Ferrari lining up right behind, Austin’s first act could define the whole race.
