U.S. Grand Prix: Verstappen beats Norris to pole in Austin qualifying - ESPN

AUSTIN, Texas — Max Verstappen stormed to pole position for the U.S. Grand Prix ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris, with championship leader Oscar Piastri struggling to sixth.

Verstappen's lap time of 1:32.510 at the beginning of Q3 was enough. Red Bull did not send him out in time for a final attempt, but as it turned out he did not need one. Norris finished 0.291 seconds behind at the Circuit of the Americas.

The front-row lockout will give Verstappen, who has become a wild-card outsider in the title fight of late, and Norris a chance to cut the gap to Piastri in the standings Sunday.

«It was good,» Verstappen said after qualifying. «I think in every segment the car was very strong. Just trying to put the lap together around here sometimes can be quite tricky. Also, it's very hot, very strong winds as well. And then in that first sector, having tailwind is challenging.

»The first one [lap] in Q3 was good. Just managed to improve a little bit from Q2. Unfortunately, then I couldn't do my final run. Was a bit messy with the out laps, but luckily… we didn't need it. So, for us again, very strong result," he added.

Meanwhile, Norris said: «Yesterday, I was just quite comfortable. And I don't know if it's just everyone else has improved a bit or the wind today hurt us a bit more, but we were both struggling quite a bit more today just to put the laps in and to be as quick as this guy.

»So, we were pushing. And I'm so happy with P2. It could have been worse, but there was no chance we could have gone pole today."

Verstappen had already taken eight points out of the McLaren pair by winning the sprint race, in which Piastri collided with Norris following contact with Nico Hülkenberg, taking both out of the race.

Verstappen's