Lando Norris takes US Grand Prix pole as George Russell crashes, with Lewis Hamilton 19th

Lando Norris took pole position for Sunday’s United States Grand Prix ahead of championship leader Max Verstappen as Lewis Hamilton could only manage 19th. Heading into qualifying, Norris trailed his Red Bull rival by 54 points after Verstappen won the sprint race with the McLaren man in third. 
For much of the qualifying session and indeed the weekend Verstappen looked to be the class of the field, as he proved with an untroubled sprint race victory earlier in the day. But on the first runs in the final part of qualifying, Norris put in a superb lap which Verstappen could not match. A slightly untidy final sector put him 0.031sec behind the Briton. 
When the drivers began their second runs in Q3, Verstappen was nearly 0.18sec faster than Norris after one sector but any hopes he had of displacing him on pole ended when George Russell crashed towards the end of the lap. Double-waved yellow flags in effect brought an early end to the session. 
Carlos Sainz was a strong third for Ferrari ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc. Oscar Piastri was fifth for McLaren whilst Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull could only manage 10th, as he failed to set a lap time in Q3. 
Russell’s team-mate Hamilton had an all too familiar difficult Saturday, failing to make it out of Q1 after a mistake on his hot lap. The seven-time champion qualified 19th but says he will likely start from the pit lane with the team poised to make changes to his car overnight. 
“It was a beautiful lap. I was not going to go much quicker than what I did. I put everything out on the line. It’s what we needed to do. We’ve been on the back foot pretty much all weekend. We were not on the pace of the Red Bull or Ferraris… we needed to do something and I did that. A cool lap and a nice way to start the race tomorrow. “
“That was the target, to do a step in qualifying compared to yesterday… we did a good step in the right direction. A bit gutted for that last lap I was three-tenths up on my last lap going into turn 16. If we get a good start with the two guys in front it will be a fun one.”
“On the first lap in Q3 lost quite a bit of time there. That’s unfortunate, I knew that we had another run but I couldn’t finish the lap. We are still on the front row and the potential was there at least. It seemed that we were competitive so we made some minor changes on the car which felt nice.”
His first lap was superb and good enough in the end. Yes, perhaps there was a bit of fortune as Verstappen was on a better lap second-time around but did not get the chance to complete it. So what you might say? Shows the importance of getting a lap in from the start. 
Russell’s crash was a big spin at turn 19. Lost the rear end and slid sideways into the barriers. Not an enormous crash but I am sure it would have winded him a little. He is now in the medical car. 
Double waved yellow flags in the final sector and that will surely cost Verstappen pole as the medical car is deployed. Looks like the front right is stoved in pretty hard. Medical car is on the way and that confirms Norris pole position!
George Russell CRASHES out of Qualifying 💥 pic.twitter.com/hhXiHTFJzt
Verstappen did not have a chance to beat Norris’s time, and he was looking like he might. 
Alonso has now done a lap and has moved up into eighth. Gasly nearly drove right into Verstappen as he exited his garage and went into the pit lane. 
Has Verstappen got a tidier end to the lap in him? Sector one has normally been his strongest. And he is 0.172sec up on Norris… Norris is slower than his previous lap. 
Alonso the only man not to have set a time, but Perez loses his through a track limits infringement. 
He is faster but only by 0.025sec. That is tight. What has he got in the final sector? It looks OK… but he crosses the line in second, 0.031sec off Norris’s time. 
Perez in eighth. Sainz third, Leclerc fourth. 
Russell sounds a little perplexed on the radio. “I don’t know what we’re missing compared to yesterday,” he says. 
Russell crosses the line with a 1:32.974 but Norris beats that comfortably by 0.644sec. Verstappen is, however, a tenth up after one sector. 
Norris on a push lap giving it absolutely EVERYTHING! He’s goes P1 and keeps P1 ahead of Verstappen by just 0.031s 😮 Game on! #F1 #USGP pic.twitter.com/ngXztKAWgZ
Perhaps a question of a track limites in there but he keeps his lap for now…
Sainz and Piastri are slower, Piastri signfiicantly. Leclerc, too. Verstappen has just begun his first hot lap of this mini-session. 
And that the lap time will come, but not to overload “combined”. Martin Brundle helpfully translates as: “don’t overdrive the car”. 
12 minutes. I cannot see anyone beating Verstappen but I think Leclerc will be within a tenth or so. 
“After the sprint we had some sort of failure from the formation lap on the front suspension… that made the balance really difficult. The car was a nightmare in quali. I should probably start in the pit-lane otherwise I won’t be going anywhere from where  I am. It’s just a very inconsistent balance and no grip and…[tails off].”
TSU, HUL, OCO, STR, LAW
“Oh man, I just. No, no, no, no. I can’t believe it. Wow,” is what Hulkenberg has to say on the radio. Normally an exemplary qualifier but he locked up the front tyres at turn one and that ruined his lap. 
That knocks Tsunoda out. Stroll, Alonso’s team-mate, does not improve and stays 14th. 
Again, not within two-tenths of Verstappen who nobody can seem to lay a glove on this weekend. Hulkenberg stays 10th, will that be enough? Alonso has a chance of making it into the top 10 here… Magnussen moves up which confirms Hulkenberg’s exit, in any case. 
His lap is 0.378sec slower than Verstappen. Perez into fourth as Gasly moves into seventh. Both Aston Martins look to be out here. Both Haas cars have a chance of going through but Tsunoda moves up and that drops Magnussen down into 11th. 
Now or never for the Ferrari man, who is in 14th. I can’t see this being any problem if he strings it together. Verstappen improves on fresh tyres and goes 0.267sec faster than Norris. Leclerc looking steady without being spectacular after two sectors. It should be more than enough to get him through to Q3, though. 
DROP ZONE: OCO, ALO, STR, LEC, LAW
He is on fresh tyres. Piastri on fresh tyres is 0.005sec slower than Verstappen. Hmmm. Has Verstappen got this sewn up already?
He is 0.377sec ahead of Gasly in the Alpine, though the Frenchman set his lap on used tyres. Sainz on used tyres is 0.381sec slower than Verstappen. 
What we are seeing this weekend appears to be the Verstappen/Red Bull combination from earlier in the season. Ferrari might yet challenge Verstappen but Mercedes and McLaren appear to be finding it a little more difficult. Zak Brown just said on Sky Sports that a top-five was on for Norris, which sounds like expectation management to me. 
15 minutes on the clock but nobody that bothered about getting out there just yet. 
🟢 Q2 GREEN LIGHT 🟢Out of the pits and up the hill to Turn 1…#F1 #USGP pic.twitter.com/pSM4VA2a2Q
Hamilton being wheeled back into the garage – his day is done #F1 #USGP pic.twitter.com/DsnzyKJgMY
The F1 equivalent of an early bath, whatever that is. 
Drivers eliminated: ALB, COL, BOT, HAM, ZHO
Stroll moves up to 15th. Colapinto in 17th. 
Hamilton is slipping down, not that it really matters. Verstappen leads the way by just under two tenths from Leclerc. 
What can Hamilton do? Only 16th and that will surely put him out of qualifying! It was a poor middle sector where he lost half a second to Russell. That is a strange one. Mind you his qualifying form has been abysmal by his high standards over one lap. 
Neither man can afford a mistake with so little time left in the session. Verstappen posts the fastest first sector of anyone so far. Russell and Hamilton not quite on his pace, both a couple of tenths off at the same point. 
Piastri in the second McLaren in eighth. Leclerc is 0.309sec faster than Gasly. Difficult to really get a read on these times given the variability in the tyres used so far (fresh or new softs). Plus a few drivers have had laps deleted for track limits. Verstappen (below) not one of them. 
Verstappen has carried on where he left off earlier in the day He’s currently P1 and using every last inch of the track #F1 #USGP pic.twitter.com/jV21hToAdH
Drivers in the elimination zone: RUS, HAM, ZHO, LEC, TSU
Hamilton especially, in 15th and Russell in 10th. Used tyres for both of them, though as Gasly goes fastest bt 0.140sec in the Alpine that this weekend looks like a McLaren. 
It’s 0.339sec faster than Norris and Perez in the other Red Bull sets a lap time identical to the lead McLaren. Does this mean Red Bull are in business this weekend? We are only half-way through Q1…
Couple of solid laps set so far 💪#F1 || #USGP
 
A couple of tenths behind team-mate Norris. Verstappen goes fastest in the first sector, though still plenty of drivers to set a lap time. 
He does not complete his first flying lap, I am not quite sure why but I assume because of a mistake. Alonso currently leads the way with a 1:34.496 but then Norris beats that by 0.467sec with Sainz slotting between them, within a tenth of the McLaren. 
Neither Red Bull, Mercedes nor Haas is out there yet. But everyone else is. 
18 minutes to go, 20 drivers in and five will be eliminated at the end. Will we see any shock exits?
If you were wondering, there was no further action for Lando Norris after he was investigated for “driving erratically” on the final lap battle in the sprint with Charles Leclerc. 
Back in the zone. We go again for Quali 😤 pic.twitter.com/b0IGW8ic3Y
A strange season overall for Mercedes. They will probably not end up with as many points as they did in 2022 but more than in 2023, both of which were poor seasons for them. Part of that is down to that it has often been a four-way fight at the front over the last six months. Three wins, though, which is something. 
It is a tremendous shame that he is leaving Ferrari for Williams next year. No slight on Williams but you would think that points-scoring opportunities will be only occasional for the Spaniard in 2025. 
Of course, when Lewis Hamilton comes knocking you answer the door and let him in, but was there not a more competitive team than Williams he could have signed for? Well, yes: Red Bull. But that is not what they are all about, apparently. 
That is F1 though. I remember when Damon Hill left Williams for Arrows after his championship win in 1996. His first race for the team he qualified in 20th, 5.4sec off the pace and did not take the chequered flag until the seventh race of the season. 
Their three points in the sprint moves them up to sixth, ahead of RB, in the constructors’ standings. Most of those points have come from Nico Hulkenberg who is moving to Sauber/Audi in 2025. 
Team principal Andrea Stella speaks to Sky Sports F1. 
“It’s just a more realistic picture” 🖼️Andrea Stella on McLaren’s performance in the Sprint ⚡ pic.twitter.com/4cxzK6JHQ4
Verstappen now leads by 54 points. Which means over six grands prix and two sprint races, Norris needs to take out nine points from here on average every weekend to catch him up. 
Qualifying in Austin gets under way in a little over an hour. Max Verstappen will, clearly, be the favourite though Ferrari looked in good form too. Mercedes had a slightly strange sprint race, whilst it sounds like McLaren have limited expectations. 
Max Verstappen ended his winless run to convert his pole position into victory at Saturday’s sprint race in the United States and extend his championship lead over Lando Norris by two points.
Verstappen led from start to finish to take the chequered flag 3.8 seconds clear of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who moved past Norris on the final lap.
Norris hung on to third, one place ahead of Charles Leclerc. George Russell started second but finished only fifth. Lewis Hamilton was sixth in the other Mercedes.
Prior to Saturday’s fixture at a sun-cooked Circuit of the Americas, Verstappen had not won in his last eight appearances. However, the Dutch driver was back to his all-conquering best here by sealing a fine win to increase his title lead from 52 points to 54 ahead of qualifying to determine the grid for Sunday’s main event.
There are 172 points still remaining across the concluding six rounds. Qualifying for Sunday’s US GP begins at 11pm BST.
We will be back with live updates and build-up in just under a couple of hours. Have Red Bull finally fixed their problems? Things are looking good for them in Austin so far. 
“If you look at it as an overview, I was quick in the beginning and then I had no tyres left. I spoke with Lewis after the race and he had no rear tyres left, so we’re clearly missing something. It’s just getting on top of these tyres… it’s a little bit hotter today. The hard tyre felt great, clearly on the medium it was different.”
Well, not really, because any amount of bad luck can befall Verstappen. And this is only two points lost. In any case he needs to take a big chunk of points from Verstappen at some point so losing a couple to him does not make a great deal of difference, as much as gaining two points would have helped. 
The worry will be, given what we have seen so far this weekend, that Verstappen increases his advantage by 10 or more points by the chequered flag tomorrow. 
Norris has been noted for “driving erratically” at Turn 15.Leclerc complained it was moving under braking on the final lap when he nearly ran into the back of him #F1 #USGP
This was on the final lap and will be investigated by the stewards. 
“It was not too bad. It feels a bit like old times! I am very happy with today, if you look at the whole race Ferrari were very quick. Finally for us, we are racing again… yeah, we have good pace. It’s always a very hectic weekend like this, but luckily the last few times we had a sprint the car was in a good window.”
Sting presents him with the trophy for the winning driver. He increases his lead in the drivers’ standings to 54 points. Neither the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri nor the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez scored a point so Red Bull eat into McLaren’s lead by a couple of points. 
“It was a good race, I am pretty happy with how things ended up. Disappointing end but I am happy with the race result and a good amount of points. I did the most I could. I don’t think we had the pace on Max or the Ferraris, therefore I am happy to finish third.”
That final lap ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/WqnbiV61pf
Those are the point scorers. 
A first Red Bull win of any kind since Barcelona earlier this year. Are they finally getting on top of their problems? We will see, a long way to go in this weekend still. 
Sainz second, Norris third and Leclerc fourth…
Norris was very lucky not to be wiped out by Leclerc. Not that it necessarily would have been Leclerc’s fault as such. 
Norris locks up at turn one and Sainz gets second! Can Norris hold off Leclerc or will he end up losing more points to Verstappen? Norris gets DRS on the back straight and I think Leclerc is too far behind to make a move. Indeed he is, but Norris locks up at the hairpin… the pair nearly touch… or do they?!
Just a few corners to go…
As they cross the start/finish line for the final lap Norris has a lot on his plate…
Norris looking vulnerable to Sainz now…
He is within DRS range but has seemed to be stuck at 0.7sec behind his team-mate. Gasly gets a black and white flag for another track limits infringement. 
Hamilton now within DRS range of Russell ahead for fifth. 
2.5sec ahead of Norris and on course to increase his championship lead by a point. Mercedes have dropped massively back here. Russell is eight seconds behind Leclerc now and has Hamilton right behind him. 
Not sure many will remember it this time next year, though. 
Looks like Haas are on course for a few points here with Magnussen in seventh and Hulkenberg in eighth in the team’s home race. Perez in ninth is 5.3sec behind Hulkenberg and is not lapping any faster. 
He has not really been trouble from the start. A lap or two where Norris took a few tenths out of him but Norris looks to have pushed too hard and is now 2.2sec off the Red Bull ahead. 
Leclerc and Sainz may well end up clashing on track again. Can Sainz close down Norris for second?
He set the fastest first sector of the race, but that was less than a tenth faster than Verstappen. Verstappen’s second sector was a couple of tenths faster than the McLarens. Norris’s final sector is poor, too, 0.3sec off the leader’s pace. 
“My front left is toast,” he says on the radio. He drops back to fifth as Leclerc gets him for fourth. Here is the top 10: 
Verstappen’s lead at 1.4sec or so. 
He is matching Norris’s pace, at least for now. Perhaps there was a little mistake on the previous lap. Russell loses a place to Sainz who is now in third and the Mercedes looks vulnerable to Leclerc in the other Ferrari now…
Carlos POUNCING on George 👏 pic.twitter.com/ecKhi5M55b
It’s just a tenth that Norris takes out of Verstappen by the end of this lap…
The gap, which had stretched to 1.9sec, is now down to 1.4sec. Russell is dropping back a little from the McLaren, too. Hamilton dropping back from Leclerc in fifth, too. 
There is, unsurprisingly, a top six and then the rest of them. Hamilton is a little further adrift of Leclerc and Verstappen is comfortably ahead of Norris in second. 
Russell is within DRS range and this could be a formality given the pace different. Sainz finally gets Leclerc for fourth in the final sector… Verstappen bossing this. 
Norris now out of DRS range, which tends to compound the deficit. He may well drop back a bit now without getting a bit of extra help twice a lap. Perez nearly runs into the back of the RB of Tsunoda at the hairpin, with Hulkenberg and the Japanese duelling. 
Whoa! 👀 pic.twitter.com/44ZdDDYV3o
Sainz not getting much joy at the moment and does not make a move stick into the hairpin. Norris clinging onto the back of Verstappen, but the Dutchman has just increased his lead to a smidge over one second and sets the fastest lap of the race in the process. Russell has decent pace, too, in third. 
Let’s see what Norris and McLaren have. Upgrades for Red Bull here. How well are they working? 
Sainz gets Leclerc up the inside of turn 15 but Leclerc gets the place back as he goes too deep!
Verstappen has not broken the DRS gap just yet…
It’s a very good start from Verstappen as Russell is a bit slow to get away. He has not had many of them this year but Norris has made up two places, going aroudn the outside, and then inside, of Russell through the esses and he is up into second early on! The two Ferraris get very close early on but avoid contact, I believe. 
⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️LIGHTS OUT IN F1 SPRINT!!! 🤠Verstappen scampers up to Turn 1 and leads while Norris makes up two places getting past Leclerc and Russell 😮The McLaren driver is up to P2!! 💪#F1 #USGP pic.twitter.com/ospPAPb3nx
Leclerc and Russell duel in the second sector and change positions for third several times… Russell clings on until the end of the lap. 
Top 10: 
Hamilton says something is “clicking” when he brakes, which sounds less than ideal. He is told that there is “nothing to concern” the team on the data. 
Verstappen leads the drivers off on the formation lap 👉The Dutchman has won all three #F1Sprint races so far this year – will he make it four in a row? #F1 #USGP pic.twitter.com/BRe56mlWJU
Or any, really. Just what tyre type you use. And today everyone, to a man, is on the mediums. They really need to reconsider this sprint format. It, and the qualifying for it, are far better than two practice sessions but they could be better still. A missed opportunity for F1. 
19 laps at the Circuit of the Americas, for my money one of the top five tracks on the calendar along with Interlagos, Suzuka, Silverstone and… probably Monza? 
“I think we’re still doing a good job, it’s just a bit of a layout of the track… aren’t suiting us well. And we’ve got good competition like we’ve had the last five or six months. Optimistic that we can have a good race.”
“It’s a mini-result because it’s just for the sprint but it demonstrates that the hard work is paying off… hopefully we can convert this into a good result today. I think just after Monza we started to get a good idea of what was going on and where the disconnect in imbalance was in the car.”
On Norris, who starts fourth: 
“He’s a little grumpy with himself but that usually translates to a pretty awesome race. I think he lost two and a half tenths… it’s a hard track, the bumps the new surface. I think if everyone put together their perfect lap, I think Lewis is one pole.”
On the Red Bull bib adjustment row: 
“I think when you got into situations like this… I think we’re all [the team principals] confident that moving forward it’s a good solution. I do think we need to look back and make sure we have confidence. Any time you have an incident like that we all just want to have confidence that it’s all been done properly… I think we need the look-back.”
Here is why…
A shock for McLaren as Oscar Piastri falls foul of track limits and is OUT in SQ1 🟠❌ pic.twitter.com/efHBb6JcEG
Again, a big ask for Norris to win but if Verstappen, for example, fails to finish tomorrow’s race and Norris wins or finishes well… then the points-per-race equation he needs beat the Dutchman by does not look so daunting. 
18 race wins spread out between four teams with at least three wins is not bad at all given how last year went and the start of this year, too. 
Never mind bibs, they are going to need full-on hazmat suits to deal with the fallout from this increasingly toxic Formula One season if it goes to the wire.
Allegations in the build-up to this weekend’s United States Grand Prix that Red Bull may have been operating a so-called “bib device” – which controls ride height – between qualifying and race are merely the latest in a tit-for-tat war which has raged all year between the season’s two big players.
Read more here.
Team’s CEO Zak Brown says a ‘thorough investigation’ is required regarding rival’s adjustment of car set-ups. Read more here.
Welcome to our coverage for the sprint race (and later the qualifying) for the 2024 United States Grand Prix from the Circuit of the Americas, just outside of Austin. It has been a wee while since we had live Formula One action with the unofficial autumn break giving some much-needed downtime to a season that has been packed with action and incidents, especially in the last five or so months. 
We head into this race with both championships still alive, though things are much closer in the constructors’ standings than in the drivers, where Max Verstappen of Red Bull leads Lando Norris of McLaren by 52 points with six rounds (and three sprints, including this one) remaining. That is a substantial gap, but it has been the direction of travel that has been worrying for Red Bull. 
After winning seven of the first 10 races of the season (and plenty more the previous season), Verstappen has not won any of the last eight rounds, with just two podium positions in that time. Sadly for McLaren fans they have not managed to fully capitalise on this downturn in form from Red Bull, and – apart from perhaps some particularly bad luck for their rivals – Norris will need to be close to perfect from here on in to win the championship. 
Unfortunately that was not the case in yesterday’s sprint qualifying. Verstappen took pole for that; his first F1 pole of any kind for quite a time. Norris could only qualify fourth, 0.25sec behind the Red Bull pole man. There are not that many points available in the sprint race (eight for the winner, one for the eighth-placed driver) but this is an opportunity for Verstappen to make his rival’s life that little bit more difficult by finishing ahead. Plenty can happen in a sprint race, especially on a track like this. That said, it often does not. 
The action gets under way at 7pm BST and we will be here for all the build-up, live action and reaction from that before moving onto qualifying coverage around 10pm, with the session under way at 11pm. That, perhaps, could be more consequential for the title but McLaren will need to find something that they did not have yesterday and hope Red Bull lose that something, too.