Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen took his seventh pole position of the season at the Circuit of the American, beating McLaren’s Lando Norris and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to the front of the grid for the US Grand Prix by over three tenths of a second. Championship leader Oscar Piastri is set to start the race from sixth place. 

The opening segment qualifying was halted within three minutes when Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar crashed in the Esses. The French driver lost the back end of his VCARB 02 in Turn 6 and spun off into the barriers. The session was halted with no times set. 

After an 11-minute delay running got underway again and Verstappen was quickly into the groove, posting an opening flaying lap of 1:33.590 to take P1 ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Mercedes’ George Russell. 

Leclerc then moved ahead of Verstappen with a lap of 1:33.525. Norris was forced to abandon his lap after he also suffered a lurid slide in the Esses. The Briton immediately went for a second attempt and he jumped to a safe P7. 

In the final runs, Russell posted a 1:33.311 to take top spot ahead of Antonelli, but Verstappen went quicker than both to claim P1 with a time of 1:33.207. 

Eliminated at the end of Q1 from P16 back were Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, Ocon, Stroll, Albon and the unfortunate Hadjar. 

Verstappen was again in control at the start of Q2. Norris took P1 with a lap of 1:32.876, but Verstappen was close behind on track and a purple first sector helped to put him 0.168s ahead of McLaren driver. Leclerc also edged ahead of Norris to take P2 by just 0.07s. 

Verstappen stayed in his garage for the final flyers and his opening time proved good enough to keep him in top spot as none of those immediately behind him improved.

Ruled out at the end of Q2 were Kick Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg in P11, ahead of Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson, Red Bull Racing’s Yuki Tsunoda and the Alpine pair of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto who exited in P14 and P15. 

Norris took an early provisional pole at the start of Q2 with a lap of 1:32.904 that put him ahead of Rusell and Antonelli, but Verstappen then powered past all three, posting a lap of 1:32.510 to take top spot almost four tenths of a second clear of Norris. 

And that advantage proved to be more than enough in the final runs. A “messy” out lap cost the Dutchman his final flyer as he failed to get across the line before the chequered flag, but though Norris improved on his final flyer he could only cut the gap to 0.291 and Verstappen took his 47th career pole. 

Leclerc was left with third at the flag ahead of Russell and Hamilton, while championship leader Piastri had a low key run to sixth place on the grid. Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli qualified in P7 ahead of Haas’ Ollie Bearman and Williams’ Carlos Sainz and the final top 10 place went to Alonso.

2025 FIA Formula 1 United States Grand Prix – Qualifying 
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:32.510 - -
2 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:32.801 0.291 0.315
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:32.807 0.297 0.321
4 George Russell Mercedes 1:32.826 0.316 0.342
5 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:32.912 0.402 0.435
6 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:33.084 0.574 0.620
7 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:33.114 0.604 0.653
8 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:33.139 0.629 0.680
9 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:33.150 0.640 0.692
10 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:33.160 0.650 0.703
11 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:33.334 0.824 0.891
12 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:33.360 0.850 0.919
13 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:33.466 0.956 1.033
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:33.651 1.141 1.233
15 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 1:34.044 1.534 1.658
16 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:34.125 1.615 1.746
17 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:34.136 1.626 1.758
18 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:34.690 2.180 2.357
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:34.540 2.030 2.194
20 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT - -