Verstappen edges out THREE rivals to snatch US sprint pole

Max Verstappen made amends for his poor qualifying performance by taking pole position in the sprint shootout at the United States Grand Prix, despite an uncharacteristic spin in SQ2.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc backed up his supreme Friday qualifying performance by finishing second in the sprint shootout, just five hundredths of a second behind Verstappen.

Lewis Hamilton took third to provide yet more evidence of Mercedes' strong pace this weekend at the Circuit of the Americas, as the top three drivers were separated by less than a tenth of a second.

Red Bull redemption

Having suffered a pretty mediocre performance on Friday by their standards, Red Bull's Verstappen and Sergio Perez will only line-up in sixth and ninth for Sunday's race, but the dominant Dutchman will be confident he can take victory in the sprint race after putting his car on pole.

A 'small mistake' meant that his final Q3 lap time was deleted for a track limits infringement, and he once again made an uncharacteristic mistake during SQ2, spinning around having got onto the grass.

Despite this, he managed to recover to claim the sprint shootout pole, and once again leave his rivals in his wake.

More misery for Aston Martin

After a difficult weekend so far for the Aston Martin team, where both of their cars caught fire during practice before Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll failed to make it out of Q1, their time at Austin went from bad to worse.

Both drivers fell in SQ2, meaning they will line-up for the sprint race later on Saturday in 12th and 14th, while their fearsome Friday means they'll also start Sunday's race down in 17th and 19th respectively.

Russell slammed with penalty

As well as his average sprint qualifying performance in which he was only able to claim eighth, Mercedes' George Russell was penalised after impeding Leclerc's flying lap during SQ1.

The Ferrari driver clearly believed it was a slamdunk penalty for the British driver, saying straight away over the radio: "Penalty for Mr Russell, thank you."

Now, the FIA have revealed that Russell has been given the penalty, meaning he will start the sprint later on Saturday from 11th.

F1 Sprint Shootout Results: US Grand Prix 2023

1. Max Verstappen [Red Bull] - 1:34.538s

2. Charles Leclerc [Ferrari] - +0.055s

3. Lewis Hamilton [Mercedes] - +0.069s

4. Lando Norris [McLaren] - +0.101s

5. Oscar Piastri [McLaren] - +0.356s

6. Carlos Sainz [Ferrari] - +0.401s

7. Sergio Perez [Red Bull] - +0.503s

8. George Russell [Mercedes] - +0.661s

9. Alex Albon [Williams] - +0.828s

10. Pierre Gasly [Alpine] - +1.359s

ELIMINATED IN SQ2

11. Daniel Ricciardo [AlphaTauri]

12. Fernando Alonso [Aston Martin]

13. Esteban Ocon [Alpin]

14. Lance Stroll [Aston Martin]

15. Zhou Guanyu [Alfa Romeo]

ELIMINATED IN SQ1

16. Nico Hulkenberg [Haas]

17. Kevin Magnussen [Haas]

18. Valtteri Bottas [Alfa Romeo]

19. Yuki Tsunoda [AlphaTauri]

20. Logan Sargeant [Williams]

READ MORE: F1 United States Grand Prix weather forecast

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