The Dutch driver Max Verstappen (Red Bull) took the pole for this Saturday’s sprint at the United States Grand Prix, in a tight first round in Austin where he responded to the threat of McLaren and the improvements of the rest of the grid.
The champion cooled the expected excitement of the six remaining races of the World Championship, in search of points from the sprint to keep Lando Norris at bay, who will start fourth with the first points of the weekend at stake. Between them is the title and Verstapen continues to cling to the head with driving lessons.
This was demonstrated by Red Bull in SQ3, a single fastest lap attempt where he set the best time by twelve thousandths over the British George Russell. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Norris and Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) continued on the grid, where the Haas surprised and Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes will start seventh.
In a Spanish key, Sainz, who had dominated the only free practice session this Friday at the Circuit of The Americas, did not finish the job in that last attempt to seek pole. All in all, the Ferraris confirmed that their progression is real, although the improvements of the rest of the teams may also be noticeable in Austin.
Meanwhile, for Fernando Alonso it was not a good start, with no time to test or immediate results in his Aston Martin. The two green cars, also Lance Stroll’s, were left out in SQ2, and the Spaniard, with his lap even canceled for going outside the track limits, will start fourteenth in the sprint.
More investigated was the elimination of Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) or Oscar Piastri (McLaren), who was left out at the first opportunity and will leave Norris alone. The ‘papaya’ fell short of their goal of dethroning the Red Bulls and Verstappen, who maintains a 52-point advantage over the Briton in the standings despite going eight races without winning, does not plan to give away the World Cup.