Max Verstappen was untouchable in qualifying for the 2025 United States Grand Prix , taking a dominant pole following his victory in the Sprint Race earlier on Saturday.
Verstappen, who is looking to claw back the gap to Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in the Formula 1 Drivers' Championship, managed to top all Qualifying sessions as rivals were relegated to fighting for the best of the rest status.
It was the four-time F1 Champions 47th career pole, his seventh in the 2025 season, and he managed to secure it by running only once in Q3 and by almost three tenths from Norris who couldn't find the pace he used to enjoy in McLaren MCL39 and had to settle for second.
Charles Leclerc pulled off a decent lap in the dying moments of Q3 to take the third grid position after a mistake saw him spin on his banker lap. Leclerc was beaten by Norris by just 0.006s.
George Russell was never in contention for pole as the elevated track temperatures meant the Circuit of the Americas was not a happy hunting ground for his Mercedes W16, but he maximized his results with fourth, 0.316s off the pace.
Lewis Hamilton came in fifth fastest, 0.402s off pole position and 0.172s ahead of Piastri who struggled all session long only managing sixth as he will be on the back foot defending his lead in the Drivers' Championship during Sunday's Grand Prix.
Kimi Antonelli was seventh fastest in the second Mercedes, almost three tenths slower than his teammate. The rookie was chased by another rookie, Ollie Bearman who was a superb eighth in the Haas.
Carlos Sainz was ninth fastest for Williams with fellow Spaniard, Fernando Alonso, in tenth.
What the top three said
Verstappen did not cross the line in time to go for another lap in Q3 and admitted he was lucky that he eventually didn't need to.
“It was good," he said of his session. "I think every segment, the car was very strong. Just trying to put the lap together around here is sometimes very tricky. It’s very hot, very strong winds as well – in that first sector having a tailwind is challenging.
“The first run in Q3 was good," he added. "Just managed to improve a little bit from Q2. Unfortunately I couldn’t do my final run. It was a bit messy with the out-laps, but luckily, we didn’t need it."
As for Norris, he lamented not having the car under him to challenge for pole; he added: "It was a bit more of struggle today for whatever reason.
"Yesterday I was just quite comfortable and I don't know if it's just everyone else has improved a bit, or the wind has hurt us a bit more, but we were both struggling to put the laps in and be as quick as this guy [Verstappen].
"We were pushing and I'm still happy with P2. It could have been worse, But there was no chance we could have got on pole today.
"Just don't get hit is my clue for tomorrow!" Norris quipped when asked about his targets for the Grand Prix. "I look forward to hopefully having a good race with Max.
"We have had some good ones in the past so looking forward to it again," the McLaren driver concluded.
Following his spin in Q3, Leclerc was surprised, as those watching, after delivering the third fastest lap; he commented: "It was quite a big surprise (to come third) especially considering the weekend has been very difficult for us since the beginning.
"We tried to put everything together in qualifying, we managed to do so, but I think there are still things we need to understand with this car because there is a bit too much of a swing of performance in the weekend without fundamentally changing the car.
"But it's been an interesting Sprint race this morning, I think we learnt a lot. We applied that in qualifying and it seems to be working, so I hope that from now on, we kind of catch back a little bit.
"Our car is normally stronger in the race than it is in qualifying, so that's a positive. I don't know if it's strong enough to go and fight with Max and the McLaren, but we'll do everything.
"Hopefully a good start like this morning or last year and then focus on staying in front," Leclerc concluded.
Q1: Isack Hadjar crashes out!
The session started in clear conditions, with track temperature up to 48 degrees Celsius as air temperature at 34 degrees.
After the Sprint Race, and as per the rules, the teams were allowed to break parc ferme conditions and apply changes to their cars while McLaren were busy building both their MCL39s as both were damaged on the Lap 1 incident in the 19-lap race earlier.
And while Medium tyres were mandated for the first stage of Sprint Qualifying, the teams had free tyre choice for Qualifying and thus all drivers set out on the Softs.
Esteban Ocon went first out on track, followed by Pierre Gasly, Franco Colapinto and Hadjar. The Haas driver started a timed lap first but before he could even finish it, the Red Flag was out after Hadjar crashed his VCARB at Turn 6.
Replay showed that the Frenchman lost the rear and he couldn't do anything about it in such a fast corner and he ended up in the barriers and visibly furious with himself, hitting his helmet.
The session was resumed with just under 15 minutes remaining with no time set yet by any of the drivers who scrambled out on track making a queue in the pitlane waiting for the green light.
This time, it was Nico Hulkenberg who started a timed lap first as Gabriel Bortoleto followed. The German went fastest and then the Brazilian went second fastest.
Sainz, who was on a used set of Softs, aborted his timed lap and dived into the pits as Bearman and Ocon went second the third fastest. The Lawson went to the top. Colapinto sixth.
Then Alonso went to the top with Russell going second fastest as Antonelli was third with Verstappen coming through to go fastest on used Softs.
Leclerc then posted a faster time than the Dutchman as Piastri started his timed lap and went just fifth fastest. After that, Norris started his lap but almost lost his car coming out of Turn 9 and had to abort.
With five minutes remaining, the order was: Leclerc - Verstappen - Hamilton - Sainz - Alonso - Piastri - Russell - Antonelli - Gasly - Lawson - Tsunoda - Hulkenberg - Bearman - Ocon - Stroll.
In the drop zone: Colapinto - Albon - Bortoleto - Norris. The Briton then goes seventh fastest.
With the final runs finished, Verstappen was fastest with a 1:33.207, 0.104s ahead of Russell in second as Antonelli was third.
The rest of the top 15 were: Leclerc - Lawson - Hulkenberg - Gasly - Hamilton - Sainz - Alonso - Piastri - Norris - Bearman - Tsunoda - Colapinto.
Eliminated: Bortoleto was 16th fastest missing out on Q2 by 0.086s as Ocon was 17th fastest, with Stroll in 18th.
Then cam Albon in 19th after his lap was deleted for exceeding the track limits at Turn 15 while Hadjar was down in 20th.
Q2: Tsunoda doesn't make the top ten
The second stage of qualifying started with Norris radioing that he would need to change his steering wheel for the second run as the whole grip has come off.
Bearman, Russell, Antonelli, and Lawson were the first drivers to hit the track as the Haas rookie went for a timed lap first.
Bearman went fastest then Antonello went even faster as Russell went only third on his first run. Lawson followed and dropped Russell to fourth.
Gasly and Colapinto were fifth and sixth respectively. Gasly's time was deleted though for track limits breach in the final corner.
Then came Norris and Verstappen, followed by Piastri. Norris went to the top but Verstappen dropped him to second as Piastri was only good for fifth.
After that Leclerc went second fastest as Hamilton followed and posted the fourth best time.
Order after the first runs was: Verstappen - Leclerc - Norris - Hamilton - Antonelli - Sainz - Piastri - Alonso - Bearman - Hulkenberg.
In the drop zone: Lawson - Russell - Tsunoda - Colapinto - Gasly (no time)
With less than five minutes remaining, the final run of Q2 commenced as Verstappen stayed behind and with the time over, the Red Bull ace remained on top with a lap time of 1:32.701, 0.168s clear of Leclerc in second with Norris in third.
The rest of the top ten were: Hamilton - Antonelli - Russell - Sainz - Piastri - Alonso - Bearman.
Out of qualifying: Hulkenberg was 11th, losing out to Bearman by 0.096s with Lawson in 12th after having his best lap time deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 19.
Then came Tsunoda who was just 13th, complaining that Lawson was blocking him deliberately, with Gasly in 14th and Colapinto in 15th.
Q3: One lap was enough for pole
Bearman led the remaining ten drivers out on track and was followed by Piastri in the McLaren as Verstappen took his time before getting out.
Bearman went first as Piastri was the first of the big teams to start a timed lap and was on a used set of Soft tyres as Russell followed in the Mercedes.
Bearman went to the top as Piastri was second fastest only for Russell to come through and go fastest of all with Antonelli in second as Sainz went fourth.
Then Norris went fastest but Verstappen followed and took provisional pole by almost four tenths.
Order after first run: Verstappen - Norris - Russell - Antonelli - Bearman - Sainz - Piastri - Alonso - Hamilton - Leclerc.
Replay showed Hamilton locking up in Turn 1 while Leclerc spun in the final corner.
With three and a half minutes remaining, the driver made their way out on track for the final runs of Q3 as Verstappen, once again, took his time before exiting the Red Bull garage.
Leclerc and Hamilton started their laps as the Monegasque improved to second as the seven-time F1 Champion was only fourth.
Russell went third as Sainz then came through to go eighth fastest as Piastri and Antonelli and Norris. Piastri was only P6 as Antonelli went seventh. Norris improved to second.
Verstappen did not even go for a second run and in the end took pole by 0.291s from Norris who was second as Leclerc was third.
The rest of the top ten will line up on the grid as follows: Russell - Hamilton - Piastri - Antonelli - Bearman - Sainz - Alonso.
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