AUSTIN, Texas — Max Verstappen earned the pole for Saturday’s Sprint at the United States Grand Prix by a mere .012 seconds during qualifying at the Circuit of The Americas.
The series point leader pushed his Red Bull machine to the top spot late in the final session with a lap of 1:32.833 to edge Mercedes driver George Russell, who stopped the clocks at 1:32.845.
Verstappen is in the midst of an eight-race losing streak, but showed plenty of speed on Friday.
“It was a positive day. From lap one the car was in a decent window and I felt quite comfortable,” Verstappen said. “I could attack the high-speed corners and I think we were quite quick there. Going into a Sprint quali is always a tricky one as you do two mediums and then a soft tire: with the mediums you get a bit of reference but then you go into SQ3 with the soft tire which is only really one lap. You can’t really push to the limit and you have to leave a bit of a margin.
“Looking at the lap, there are a few little balance issues to sort out, but to be ahead of the others is really positive. I’m aware that there are a lot of fast cars around me but I’m happy and it’s definitely a positive return. Looking to the rest of the weekend, we just want to make the car a bit more driveable and that we are all good on the tires in the race.”
Russell will join Verstappen on the front row, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris behind in third and fourth ahead of Carlos Sainz and the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg in fifth and sixth places.
“I’m really happy with how today went,” Russell said. “It has been a while since we qualified on the front-row so we can be pleased with the progress we have made. The update kit we brought here seems to be working well although it has surprised us a little how competitive we were today. Sprint Qualifying was a tricky session, but I was able to put my lap in SQ3 together. The final sector in particular was strong and that is what enabled us to take P2.”
Lewis Hamilton lines up in seventh for Mercedes, alongside Haas’s Kevin Magnussen in a solid eighth.