Ferrari was the fastest in Practice One, and the first two sprint qualifying events, but Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had the final best time.
AUSTIN, Texas— Verstappen’s 1:32:899 captured Saturday’s sprint race pole at the Circuit of the Americas. George Russell will start next to him in the front row, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the second row, alongside the challenger to Verstappen’s title, Lando Norris, who was fourth in his McLaren.
Max Verstappen: Sprint qualifying is always very difficult–you do medium, medium, and then the soft [tires]. You never know how much you can push. I think the car was working quite well all day, and of course, I was pleased to be there first; it’s been a while, so yeah, I am happy with today.
Carlos Sainz finished fifth in the second Ferrari, and the home Haas team had two drivers finish in the top ten–Nico Hulkenberg in sixth and Kevin Magnussen in eighth. Mercedes-Lewis Hamilton was seventh, RBs Yuki Tsunoda took ninth, and rookie Franco Colapinto in his Williams rounded out the top ten.
There are big surprises as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri had a horrible day, finishing 16th after having his time deleted due to exceeding the track limits in the opening session. Red Bull’s second driver, Sergio Perez, had another bad day, knocked out of the second session, along with Aston Martin drivers Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso.
Verstappen realizes that the sprint race is important but knows Sunday is more important. “Most points are available on Sunday, so that’s where we want to do well.”
ESPN will televise the Sprint race on Saturday, beginning at 2 PM Eastern time, with continuing coverage of race qualifying at 6 PM. ABC will carry the race on Sunday at 1 PM Eastern.
