F1 – Verstappen takes Sprint pole in Austin ahead of Norris and Piastri

18.10.25

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen took Sprint pole in Austin, beating McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to the front of the grid for the 19-laps curtain raiser at the Circuit of the Americas. 

The opening session got underway with a stream of cars queuing at the pit and across the opening five minutes all 20 cars posted a lap. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen led the early running, posting a lap of 1:34.140 to set 0.086s clear of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and 0.152 ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.  

Verstappen improved in the final runs of thee segment to get down to 1:33.363, but Norris found more time to claim P1 0.139 ahead of the Dutchman. Piastri took third, 0.665s off his team-mate and Hamilton finished fourth ahead of Kick Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg. 

At the bottom of the order there was no place in SQ2 for Ollie Bearman who dropped out in P15, just 0.015s off the 15th-placed Alpine of Pierre Gasly. Also ruled out at the end of SQ1 from 17th back were Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, Red Bull Racing’s Yuki Tsunoda, Haas’ Esteban Ocon and the second Kick Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto who lost both flying laps to track limits infringements and failed to set a time. 

Verstappen was the first out on trac at the start of the middle segment and the Dutchman posted a lap of 1:33.163 to set the target for the remaining drivers. Norris again bypassed that marker, this time beating Verstappen by 0.130s as Piastri once again slotted into third place, 0.338 behind his team-mate and just under a tenth clear of Mercedes’ George Russell. 

The top four all went through on the opening times but while Russell eased though in fourth place, there was no room in SQ3 for his team-mate Kimi Antonelli. 

The Italian was edged out in the final moments by Hamilton who scraped though in P10 just 0.006s ahead of the Mercedes driver. 

Behind Antonelli, Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar, Gasly, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, and the second Racing Bulls car of Liam Lawson were also eliminated at the end of the segment. 

It was Russell who got things underway at the start of the top-10 shootout and his early lap set the bar at 1:32.88. That put him two hundredths of a second ahead of Williams’ Carlos Sainz. 

The way was then left clear for the final runners and Hülkenberg was the first to sweep past Russell’s time with a lap of 1:32.645. Norris, though, was finding more time and the McLaren driver sailed past, four tenths quicker, to take top spot with a lap of 1:32.214. 

Piastri couldn’t match that and he slotted in a little under three tenths off Norris, but Verstappen, the last man out on track was making gains and when he crossed the line the Red Bull driver took Sprint pole 0.071s ahead of his McLaren rival. 

With Norris second ahead of Piastri and surprise package Hülkenberg, fifth place went to Russell. Alonso qualified sixth for Aston Marting, just 0.001s ahead of Sainz, while Hamilton took P8 ahead of the second Williams of Alex Albon and Leclerc who rounded out the top 10.

2025 FIA Formula 1 United States Grand Prix – Sprint Qualifying
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:32.143 - -
2 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:32.214 0.071 0.077
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:32.523 0.380 0.412
4 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:32.645 0.502 0.545
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:32.888 0.745 0.809
6 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:32.910 0.767 0.832
7 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:32.911 0.768 0.833
8 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:33.035 0.892 0.968
9 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:33.099 0.956 1.038
10 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:33.104 0.961 1.043
11 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:34.018 1.875 2.035
12 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:34.241 2.098 2.277
13 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:34.258 2.115 2.295
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:34.394 2.251 2.443
15 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT - - -
16 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:35.159 3.016 3.273
17 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 1:35.246 3.103 3.368
18 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:35.259 3.116 3.382
19 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:36.003 3.860 4.189
20 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari - -