Max Verstappen has turned up the heat on Formula 1 championship leader Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris by taking pole for Sunday’s AEDT sprint race at the United States Grand Prix.
Red Bull Racing’s Verstappen clocked the fastest time of 1 minute and 32.143 seconds in qualifying at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas, finishing ahead of the McLaren duo.
He beat Norris by a mere 0.071 of a second, with Piastri 0.380 behind the Dutch four-time F1 champion.
Piastri will start third on the grid, ahead of German Nico Hulkenberg (1:32.645).
“I think [I drove] a pretty scruffy lap, to be honest,” Piastri said.
“I just didn’t really get it together. I feel a bit fortunate to be third, but I think the pace in the car is good.”
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Norris had set a commanding pace in practice to throw down the gauntlet to Piastri, who leads his teammate by 22 points on the drivers’ standings.
“I would’ve loved to have been on pole but it’s not a surprise for us to be just a bit slower than the Red Bull, but still pretty happy,” Norris told reporters.
Verstappen is 63 points behind Piastri on the drivers’ standings.
“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,” Verstappen said.
“I’m excited for tomorrow and happy with today. I hope that we have good pace in the race, but we’ll find out tomorrow.”
There are 33 points up for grabs across the weekend in Austin, with the sprint followed by Monday’s AEDT main race.
AAP/wires