Qualifying for Formula 1's United States Grand Prix capped off an impressive day of drama at Austin.
Here's our pick of the biggest winners and losers from grand prix qualifying.
Loser: Isack Hadjar (20th)
With Yuki Tsunoda still struggling and the Red Bull hierarchy not keen to put Liam Lawson back into its top team, Hadjar would really have to make a mess of the next few races to demote himself from favourite status in the fight to be Max Verstappen's 2026 team-mate.
So he can probably get away with crashing heavily before he'd even set a laptime in Q1 - at least in long-term driver market terms. It's not at all helpful for Racing Bulls in the immediate future, though, given he's been its team leader all year. - Matt Beer
Winner: Ferrari (3rd and 5th)
This was all about the turnaround. Ferrari's poor sprint qualifying pace suggested it was in for an underwhelming weekend. And yet there are Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, both in the top five, and despite both having had to push like crazy on their final Q3 laps having blown the first runs with errors.
A repeat of last year's Austin win on merit still feels like a stretch, but being in the mix at the front again is something. - MB
Loser: Oscar Piastri (6th)
Perhaps even more worrying than the no-score triggered by the sprint race clash was Piastri's unusual lack of pace in qualifying.
Whatever set-up changes were made between the sprint race and the grand prix qualifying only closed the three-tenth deficit to Lando Norris to a gap of two and a half tenths.
"It felt like my laps were maybe not the best laps of my life, but in line with laps I've done before, just unfortunately the laptime didn't come," Piastri explained.
That confusing disconnect means he's now got the Ferraris and George Russell's Mercedes in between him and Norris. If he can't clear them on Sunday, his title lead will take yet another serious dent. - Josh Suttill
Winner: Ollie Bearman (8th)
On a weekend where the rookies have struggled to overcome their lack of Circuit of the Americas experience, Bearman got the upgraded Haas VF-25 into Q3 and into eighth on the grid.
Securing his first back-to-back Q3 appearances is even more impressive when you consider Haas team-mate Esteban Ocon was knocked out in Q1 (also for the second race weekend running).
That gives Bearman a decent chance of removing his status as the lowest-placed full-time 2025 F1 driver in the points on Sunday. - Josh Suttill
Loser: Nico Hulkenberg (11th)
OK, starting just outside the points isn't the end of the world.
But though Hulkenberg once again looked head and shoulders above team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto over one lap, the Sauber didn't have the turn of pace as the track gripped up in grand prix qualifying that it did in the sprint session on Friday afternoon.
Evidence, perhaps, that Sauber was able to run a more aggressive ride height on Friday.
Regardless of whether that's the case, right now this result makes that first-lap exit in the sprint look like an even bigger missed opportunity. - Jack Cozens
Winner: Max Verstappen (1st)
What a day. Following up the combination of sprint win and title rivals' first-corner wipeout with an absolutely imperious performance in main qualifying.
Verstappen wasn't just fastest in all three parts of US GP qualifying, he looked destined for pole as soon as he started putting flying laps in. He had a margin of four tenths of a second for a while. It didn't matter in the slightest that out-lap traffic meant he couldn't get his final Q3 lap in, no one was beating his previous one anyway.
Momentum for Verstappen, more stumbles for McLaren. This title fight really is on. - MB
Losers: Lance Stroll + Alex Albon (18th / 19th)
Track limits strike again at Austin.
Neither of these two, to varying degrees, have been a match for their team-mates this weekend at Austin. It's also true that neither of them have been as far adrift as their Q1 deficits suggest (Albon was 0.951s off Carlos Sainz; Stroll - more on him later - was 0.799s off Fernando Alonso).
Albon suggested a fix on his car between the sprint and qualifying made the balance "unbelievably different" - in a "good way", he was keen to stress, but also to such an extent that it "just took me by complete surprise".
"It was fine margins and it's an annoying mistake," he conceded.
Fine margins indeed. Considering, the other side of both garages showed that Q3 was possible, Albon and Stroll just needed to play the percentages better. - JC
Winner: Lando Norris (2nd)
That was quite a save. And given Piastri's Austin struggle, it could be a really significant one.
Blowing his first Q1 lap left Norris in the drop zone for ages in that segment and there wasn't really any time in qualifying when he looked like a realistic pole contender.
And yet there is he in second on the grid, with his closest championship rival Piastiri starting four places behind. Even if Verstappen is unbeatable, there's a strong chance for Norris to take a heavy bite out of the gap to Piastri on Sunday. - MB
Loser: Yuki Tsunoda (13th)
Unlike sprint qualifying (and even that was questionable), Red Bull really had nothing to apologise for with Tsunoda's latest qualifying disappointment: 13th, slower than Liam Lawson's Racing Bulls, and 12 places adrift of his polesitting team-mate.
And while he blamed traffic, really his lack of pace seemed to be the biggest problem still.
Another elbows-out opening lap may be in order for Tsunoda to salvage anything on Sunday. - JS
Loser: Lance Stroll (18th)
There's no real positives here.
Stroll's fastest legal time was eight tenths slower than team-mate Alonso's, and those were in equal circumstances too - Alonso didn't bother with a second timed lap in Q1.
That's now four times in the last five grand prix qualifying sessions that Alonso has reached Q3 while Stroll's been knocked out in Q1. And Stroll also remains on course to become the third victim of an Alonso intra-team qualifying whitewash (Nelson Piquet Jr and Stoffel Vandoorne were the previous two).
Still, by qualifying 18th Stroll has turned a five-place grid penalty into a two-place one. Every cloud, and all that. - JC
