Sainz stuns with pole position as Verstappen gets the better of Norris

In the first run of Q3, Verstappen set the fastest time, but it was deleted because of track limits. This put Ferrari at the top of the timesheets. Ferrari improved, but Verstappen and Norris split them.

Sergio Perez and Oscar Piastri will start towards the back of the grid. Piastri made mistakes and failed to escape Q1. He will start 17th, one place ahead of Perez. The Red Bull driver wasn't fast enough to avoid the elimination and will start 18th on the grid. Yuki Tsunoda didn't make a positive impression for Red Bull. Should the team decide to make a change, he is in the mix for the seat, but the Japanese driver crashed himself in Q2.

Q1

Unlike last week in Austin, there wasn't a rush out of the garages when the green light turned on. Bottas and Zhou were the first to come out. Perez was greeted with cheers from his home fans, but his first lap wasn't impressive. The Red Bull driver finished over 1.5 seconds behind his teammate and sat close to the danger zone.

The pressure intensified on Perez. With seven minutes remaining, he sat in the danger zone with Russell, Zhou, Piastri and Ocon. He didn't make the required improvements and failed to escape Q1 in front of his home fans. Norris went fastest but Piastri made a mistake at turn 12. He wasn't quick enough, and he also failed to escape Q1.

Out - P20 Zhou, P19 Ocon, P18 Perez, P17 Piastri, P16 Colapinto

Q2

Leclerc didn't set a time during the first run in Q2. Both Haas drivers, Stroll and Bottas, joined him in the drop zone. The Ferrari driver immediately pulled himself out and placed in the top five. It was a good job Leclerc completed his lap early because Yuki Tsunoda crashed, causing a red flag with just ten seconds left. Any driver behind wasn't able to improve.

Out - P15 Bottas, P14 Stroll, P13 Alonso, P12 Lawson, P11 Tsunoda