Max Verstappen pipped Lando Norris to Sprint pole at the United States Grand Prix by 0.071s to reinforce a possible title fightback.

Norris topped SQ1 and SQ2 but, not for the first time this year, Verstappen delivered an incredible lap when it mattered most to beat Norris and championship leader Oscar Piastri, who was nearly four tenths off the pace.

Verstappen has taken 41 points out of Piastri in the last three races and trails the Australian by 63 points with six rounds to go, with points available in Saturday’s Sprint at 6pm, live on Sky Sports F1.

“Stunning final sector from Max Verstappen,” said Sky Sports F1‘s Martin Brundle on commentary.

“Once again, he delivers something nobody else on this grid can deliver at this time. Absolutely extraordinary the way he just kept the speed.”

Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg took an impressive fourth ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

Ferrari pair Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc only just squeaked through to SQ3, where they could only qualify eighth and 10th respectively, with Williams duo Carlos Sainz in seventh and Alex Albon in ninth.

While Verstappen took pole, Red Bull got the timing wrong in SQ1 for Yuki Tsunoda who ran out of time to start a last flying lap so he was knocked out in 18th.

Kimi Antonelli, who was confirmed as a Mercedes driver for 2026 along with Russell, missed out on SQ3 by just 0.006s and will start in 11th.

How Verstappen took stunning Sprint pole

McLaren have been eager to state Verstappen is still in the championship fight and Friday’s Sprint Qualifying provided another reminder, not that they need it, that the Dutchman is increasingly fancying his chances of an incredible comeback.

Norris was quickest in the only practice session earlier on Friday but Verstappen did not complete a full-blown flying lap on the softs.

Only the medium tyres can be used in SQ1 and SQ2, with just one run on the softs for everyone in SQ3 where the pressure was on.

There was little to separate Verstappen and Norris throughout the lap, with the reigning world champion 0.064s quicker in the first sector, then Norris 0.025s faster in the middle sector only for what Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies described as a “crazy” final corner from his driver to make the final difference of a 0.071s pole margin.

Verstappen said: “It’s been a nice qualifying. Throughout all the segments we were quite close, just about trying to put it all together when it matters at the end, which is not easy because you go to the soft compound with no reference really.

“It worked out well, but I still expect it to be a tough battle tomorrow in the Sprint, but that’s I think exactly what we want to see. I’m excited for tomorrow and happy with today.

“The wind was coming up and down, very gusty. The track is very bumpy as well, so the cars can easily step out on you in the high speed. In a qualifying like that, you have to leave a few margins here and there, but for us this has been a very good day.”

McLaren confirmed on Friday that a “sporting repercussion” would impact Norris at least this weekend but there were no signs of the British driver lacking pace compared to Piastri, who had a “messy” lap.

Norris has generally hit the ground running faster than Piastri this year and that showed in the fast turnaround in Sprint Qualifying as Piastri was four tenths slower than his team-mate.

“Of course would have loved to be on pole, but not a surprise for us to be just a bit slower than the Red Bull lately, so still pretty happy,” said Norris.

“I don’t know how much I was off by, but a little couple of things probably here and there I could have improved on, and just caught a few bumps a little bit wrong, but that’s just the difficulty of this track.

McLaren confident of challenging Verstappen in Sprint

Despite being disappointed at missing out on pole, McLaren appeared to remain confident of challenging Verstappen in Saturday’s 19-lap contest.

Asked whether he believed he could leapfrog Verstappen in the Sprint, Norris replied: “I certainly hope so. Normally our race pace is a bit better.

“We have struggled the whole year with our qualy pace, especially when it’s close and it’s been close today. So that’s why I would say not a surprise but we have more hopes for the race we can get back ahead.”

The uphill run to Turn 1 at the Circuit of The Americas has produced many incidents in the past and, given the McLaren duo made contact last time out in Singapore, there could be more drama in Saturday’s Sprint.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella hinted that first-corner moves may not be required for his drivers, as he exuded confidence over their prospects of coming on strong later in the Sprint.

“Here in Austin, we should observe more tyre degradation,” Stella told Sky Sports F1. “The conditions are very hot.

“I think we come from races where it was a little bit of procession because there wasn’t much tyre degradation. I would expect here that the race or the Sprint may be more entertaining and their could be more variability based on the behaviour of the tyres.

“Normally our car is decent when there is tyre degradation, so for many reasons, including this one, we look forward to the Sprint race.”

Sky Sports F1’s live United States GP schedule

Saturday October 18
5pm: United States GP Sprint build-up
6pm: UNITED STATES GP SPRINT
7pm: Ted’s Sprint Notebook
9pm: United States GP Qualifying build-up*
10pm: UNITED STATES GP QUALIFYING*
12am (Sunday morning): Ted’s Qualifying Notebook*

Sunday October 19
6.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: United States GP build-up*
8pm: THE UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX*
10pm: Chequered Flag: United States GP reaction
11pm: Ted’s Notebook

*also live on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1 are in North America for the United States Grand Prix in Austin this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime