Max Verstappen took pole position for Sunday’s US Grand Prix. He is on the march. McLaren are rattled and he’s coming out to get you.
The defending champion qualified a huge 0.291sec ahead of Lando Norris in second with Charles Leclerc in third.
Qualifying resurrected the day for McLaren’s Norris, who was punted off in the sprint by his team-mate Oscar Piastri a few hours earlier, preventing him making inroads on the championship leader. He is 22 points behind Piastri.
But, giving succour to both Norris and Verstappen, Piastri qualified only sixth, having also not finished after the sprint collision.
Verstappen, on the other hand, won the shorter format from pole to notch up eight points to narrow his deficit to Piastri to 55 with 166 on offer in the six remaining races, including this weekend’s as well as two more sprints.
He and Red Bull seem to be soaring whereas McLaren are floundering – strange given their rampaging success in winning the world constructors’ title with more than a quarter of the season to run. The tangle left them with a rebuilding job on both cars in time for qualifying.
Max Verstappen took pole position on another troubled day for rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri
Norris’ McLaren spins out as debris flies after another collision with his team-mate
Chief executive Zak Brown at first blamed Nico Hulkenberg for the incident, the Sauber driver being in Piastri’s path as he cut in at the opening bend. The impact sent him into Norris. It comes a fortnight after the McLaren pair crashed at Turn 3 in Singapore.
Brown later reappraised the latest skirmish, saying: ‘I’ve reviewed it and I’ve changed my view. I can’t really put that on Nico.
‘In the heat of the moment, obviously pretty bothered by what I saw there, a lot of incidents in Turn One.
‘But I don’t think that’s on Nico.’
Ollie Bearman qualified eighth on his Circuit of the Americas’ debut. What a performance from the Englishman. He is quick.
A so-so qualifying session for the Ferraris – Charles Leclerc third, Lewis Hamilton fifth, a place behind Mercedes’ George Russell.
