Verstappen's charge continues with commanding US GP pole
Formula 1

Verstappen's charge continues with commanding US GP pole

by Matt Beer
2 min read

Max Verstappen's charge towards the McLarens in the 2025 Formula 1 championship fight continued as he took a commanding pole position for the United States Grand Prix.

While Verstappen's Red Bull was fastest in all three qualifying segments and ultimately took pole by nearly three tenths of a second, championship leader Oscar Piastri could only manage sixth fastest.

The McLarens seemed out of sorts throughout the session, labouring over setting quick laptimes and having scares such as Lando Norris running very wide on his first Q1 run and spending quite a while in the drop zone.

But Norris did pull things together when it really mattered to claim second behind Verstappen, four places and nearly three tenths of a second ahead of Piastri.

Ferrari showed much more encouraging form than it had in Friday's sprint qualifying as Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton took third and fifth, sandwiching Mercedes' Singapore winner George Russell.

The Ferrari drivers secured those grid spots with just one proper flying lap each as they'd both lost time in the final segment with errors on their first runs - in Leclerc's case a complete 360-degree spin.

Nico Hulkenberg couldn't replicate his sprint qualifying heroics for Sauber and starts 11th, with Ollie Bearman's Haas in eighth and Carlos Sainz's Williams the main interlopers in Q3.

Isack Hadjar caused an almost-immediate red flag in Q1 when he spun his Racing Bulls at the bottom of the first sector's fast sweep and hit the barriers.

He's joined at the back by Lance Stroll and Alex Albon, who both committed track limits breaches, with Stroll set to start from the rear due to a grid penalty he incurred in the sprint race.

Qualifying result

1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1m32.510s
2 Lando Norris (McLaren) 1m32.801s
3 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1m32.807s
4 George Russell (Mercedes) 1m32.826s
5 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 1m32.912s
6 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 1m33.084s
7 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1m33.114s
8 Ollie Bearman (Haas) 1m33.139s
9 Carlos Sainz (Williams) 1m33.150s
10 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 1m33.160s
11 Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) 1m33.334s
12 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) 1m33.360s
13 Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) 1m33.466s
14 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 1m33.651s
15 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) 1m34.044s
16 Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) 1m34.125s
17 Esteban Ocon (Haas) 1m34.136s
18 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) 1m34.540s
19 Alex Albon (Williams) 1m34.690s
20 Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) No time

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • More Networks