Verstappen Claims Pole for US Grand Prix sprint Race in Austin
AUSTIN, TX – Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing secured pole position for the sprint race at the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, narrowly edging out McLaren’s Lando Norris in qualifying. The sprint race winner will earn eight points,with points decreasing to one for eighth place.
The qualifying session saw a surprising performance from Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, achieving his first top-ten qualification of the year and marking the team’s best result of the season. Sauber previously achieved a seventh-place grid position with Gabriel Bortoleto in Hungary in early August. Verstappen’s pole continues Red Bull’s strong recent form, though Norris acknowledged McLaren was slightly slower.
Norris expressed some disappointment,stating,”Disappointed not to be on pole but not a surprise for us to be just a bit slower than the Red Bull lately. A little couple of bits here and there I could have improved on and caught a few bumps a little bit wrong, that’s the difficulty of this track. Otherwise, all happy.”
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri qualified third, admitting to a challenging session. “A pretty scruffy lap. Just didn’t really get it together. In some ways, I feel a bit fortunate to be third. The pace in the car is good. It’s nothing major, just been a bit of a messy lap and hopefully I can tidy it up tomorrow.”
Hulkenberg was elated with his performance, saying, “Satisfied, happy, as you might imagine.P1 looked too good to be true. We weren’t sure if it was the real deal but we were able to continue that trend. Hopefully we can hang on to it this weekend. The pace was just there. The car seemed to be fast and in a good window, hit the sweet spot, I think that’s all.”
The sprint race will precede the main Grand prix on Sunday, adding another layer of competition to the already exciting Formula 1 weekend at the Circuit of the Americas.
