Norris pips rival Verstappen for US Grand Prix pole
Lando Norris has seen off rival Max Verstappen to take pole position for the United States Grand Prix and boost his Formula One championship dream.
Verstappen claimed his first win in nearly four months when he led every lap of the sprint race at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas earlier on Saturday to extend his title advantage from 52 to 54 points.
Norris finished third – after he was passed by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz on the final lap – but he bounced back in qualifying to take spot, beating Verstappen by just 0.031 seconds.
Norris set the early pace in the shootout for pole, and then lucked-in when fellow British driver George Russell crashed out in his Mercedes at the penultimate corner.
At the time, Verstappen looked set to beat Norris’ time, but all the drivers were forced to back off with Russell in the barriers following his high-speed shunt.
That allowed Norris to take what could prove a pivotal pole, with Verstappen joining him on the front row for Sunday’s race.
Sainz finished third for Ferrari, one spot ahead of Charles Leclerc with Norris’ McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri fifth.
Lewis Hamilton has won a record five times in Austin, and he was expected to be among the contenders for pole.
But the seven-time world champion endured a horror show that left him in 19th.
It marked the first time since he crashed out of qualifying in Brazil in 2017 that Hamilton has qualified so far back.
“What has happened to this car, man,” Hamilton said over the radio after he finished six tenths behind Russell in the other Mercedes.
Russell, who progressed to Q3 and, despite his late crash, finished sixth, has now out-qualified Hamilton at 14 of the 19 events so far.
Hamilton will be bumped up one place to 18th with Liam Lawson sent to the back for taking on a number of new engine parts in his RB.
Hamilton blamed his shock result on a suspension failure he sustained in the earlier sprint race.
“In the sprint we had some sort of failure from the formation lap on the front suspension,” said Hamilton. “I had that throughout the sprint race, and that made the balance really difficult.
“The car was a nightmare in qualifying. I should probably start in the pit lane, otherwise I won’t be going anywhere from where I am.”
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