Max Verstappen earns pole for the F1 United States Grand Prix 2025 sprint race

Max Verstappen claimed pole position for the United States Grand Prix Sprint Race at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA). Setting the time of 1:32.143, he beat Lando Norris (McLaren) by a slim margin of 0.071 seconds. Front row for the Sprint is Verstappen (P1),Norris (P2) and Oscar Piastri (McLaren) qualified in P3..

McLaren's Lando Norris had looked like the favourite for pole, topping both the sole Free Practice (FP1) session and the first two segments of Sprint Qualifying (SQ1 and SQ2). In the final SQ3 shootout on soft tyres, Verstappen delivered his best lap when it mattered most. His lap showed clear strengths in the high-downforce, fast-corner sections of the track.

He set purple (fastest) times in Sector 1 (the technical opening segment with the steep climb to Turn 1) and Sector 3 (the flowing, sweeping final corners). This combination allowed him to overcome Norris's strength in the middle sector, which includes the long back straight and the slower, more traction-dependent section.

Bumpy ride

Norris stated he was "not surprised" to be slightly slower than the Red Bull, acknowledging that he "just caught a few bumps a little bit wrong." COTA is notoriously bumpy and even a small error in managing the car over a crest or bump could easily account for a big gap. Championship leader Oscar Piastri admitted to a "scruffy lap" in SQ3, which left him a significant 0.380s off his teammate Norris. This uncharacteristic gap suggests he did not extract the maximum from the McLaren on his final run.

The standout performance of the session came from Nico Hülkenberg in the Sauber, who qualified an impressive 4th. This was a stunning result for the Sauber team, capitalising on an effective car setup in the challenging COTA conditions. He was comfortably 'best of the rest,' half a second clear of the Mercedes in P5. George Russell claimed P5 for Mercedes, but rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli was narrowly knocked out in SQ2, missing the top 10 by a minuscule 0.006s after a lock-up. Both Lewis Hamilton (P8) and Charles Leclerc (P10) struggled and were in danger of being eliminated in SQ2 while Williams continued to show strong one-lap pace, with Carlos Sainz (P7) and Alex Albon (P9) both making it into the top 10.

For more updates, join/follow our WhatsApp, Telegram and YouTube channels.