F1 Sprint Qualifying Results: Max Verstappen throws down title gauntlet at COTA

Max Verstappen posted yet another reminder that he can't be ruled out of the F1 title race this year, taking sprint pole at the United States Grand Prix for the third year in a row.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, his rivals for the title, qualified second and third respectively ahead of surprise package Nico Hulkenberg in the Sauber, who ran strongly all day.

Meanwhile, Yuki Tsunoda's Red Bull annus horribilis continued in Austin, getting eliminated from sprint qualifying in the first part of the session.

A horrible pit lane traffic jam saw three drivers sent out too late to make it around to the start-finish line to start their final flying laps, with Tsunoda among them as he locked himself into 18th for Saturday's sprint race.

The title-challenging trio of Norris, Verstappen and Piastri dominated the entire session, setting the first, second and third best times respectively in both SQ1 and SQ2 to lay down an early marker.

Ferrari stars Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton both struggled mightily for pace, squeezing through SQ2 in eighth and tenth respectively after the former was 13th fastest in SQ1 – finishing SQ3 in exactly the same order they finished the previous session.

READ MORE: American track dropped as F1 confirm 2026 sprint schedule

F1 Qualifying Results: Singapore Grand Prix 2025

How does F1 sprint qualifying work?

The qualifying session is split into three finite windows, which provide a dramatic prelude to Sunday's race.

The bottom five drivers are eliminated at the end of SQ1, with a further five eliminated after SQ2.

Then, SQ3 gives us a shootout between the remaining 10 drivers in the battle for positions at the front of the grid.

READ MORE: Max Verstappen reveals reason he'd make Ferrari F1 switch

Related