The season’s top two performers did just that on Saturday–Max Verstappen won one competition, and Lando Norris came out on top in the other.
AUSTIN, Texas, Saturday, October 19—Thanks to a last-minute accident by Mercedes George Russell, McLaren’s Lando Norris took his fifth pole of the season with a 1:32:330 best time ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who had won the sprint race earlier in the day. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz took third, with partner Charles Leclerc filling out the second row for Sunday’s U.S. Grand Prix.
Norris set his best time minutes before Verstappen could go out for his final qualifying lap. Verstappen began with his flying lap but was then slowed by yellow flags when Russell struck the barriers, ending any chance he had to beat Norris’s time.
For Norris, it was a relief. “I was not going to go much quicker than what I did. When you just do a lap, and you think, ‘Damn, it’s going to be tough to beat that,’ but I put everything out on the line, and it’s what we needed to do, we’ve been on the back foot pretty much the whole weekend.”
In addition to the top four qualifiers, Oscar Piastri took fifth in the second McLaren, and despite his accident, Russell ended up sixth. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly had a fine seventh, mainly because his car did not experience chassis or engine issues that have troubled the team all season. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was eighth, and the Haas of Kevin Magnussen performed fine on the team’s home circuit and finished in ninth.
On the downside, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez had another troubling day, lagging partner Verstappen, finishing in tenth. That was better than what Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton experienced this day. Plagued all afternoon with balance issues, Hamilton was out in the opening session and will start the race from the 16th position.
Looking forward to race day, pole-sitter Norris knows what’s ahead of him. “We’ve not had the pace of the Ferraris or the Red Bulls,” he said. Still, he overcame that disadvantage during Saturday qualifying, which he hopes to replicate on Sunday afternoon.
Racing will begin at 3 PM Eastern time and will be televised by ABC.
