United States GP Sprint Qualifying: Max Verstappen returns to pole position with title rival Lando Norris only fourth

Max Verstappen will start from the head of a Formula 1 grid for the first time in almost four months on Saturday after he took pole position for the Sprint at the United States Grand Prix, with title rival Lando Norris only fourth.

At the start of a weekend in which Red Bull's car has proved the centre of attention off the track, Verstappen coped the best with having only one hour of practice running to prepare for the Sprint event's first competitive session and pipped Mercedes' George Russell to qualifying's fastest time by 0.012s.

Saturday's short 19-lap race - which starts at 7pm live on Sky Sports F1 and offers eight points to the victor - will mark the first time that F1's championship leader has started from a pole position since the Austrian GP on June 30, the season's last Sprint weekend.

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The final driver to complete his SQ3 effort, Verstappen uncorked a well-judged 1:32.833 lap of the Circuit of the Americas to edge out Russell, who had been the first car on to the track in the session a few minutes earlier.

But Norris, who trails Verstappen by 52 points in the world championship and knows he needs to up his recent rate of gains if he is to overhaul the Dutchman before the end of the season, was a disappointing fourth and will share the second row with third-quickest Charles Leclerc of Ferrari.

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In a further unexpected disappointment for Constructors' Championship leaders McLaren, Oscar Piastri qualified only 16th after losing his final fastest time in SQ1 due to a track limits infringement at Turn 19.

Rivals Red Bull then lost Sergio Perez in SQ2, the under-pressure Mexican again not doing enough to make the top 10 and qualifying 11th.

Lewis Hamilton ended up seventh but felt pole would have been his had it not been for a yellow flag on his SQ3 lap at Turn 12.

The five-time Austin victor had lapped four-tenths quicker than team-mate Russell through the lap's first sector but his attempt fell apart in the middle sector after encountering a yellow flag when Williams' Franco Colapinto went off the track ahead of him on the road.

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That left Hamilton also behind fifth-placed Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari and Haas' Nico Hulkenberg, who impressed yet again in qualifying to take sixth.

Kevin Magnussen backed up his team-mate's effort to take eighth in the second Haas, putting the Dane ahead of RB's Yuki Tsunoda and Williams' Colapinto, who outqualified team-mate Alex Albon after the latter spun wildly en route to an SQ1 exit.

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Norris rues 'shocking' run to fourth as Verstappen capitalises

Prior to the near month-long break in the F1 season before Austin, Norris had outscored Verstappen in each of the previous four races - a run headlined by runaway wins in Zandvoort and Singapore.

But the McLaren driver's Austin weekend has begun disappointingly after he qualified a quarter of a second away from his pole-winning title rival.

"I'm P4, so not a great day," said Norris, who finished in the same position in practice.

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"I've been struggling the whole day, honestly, with the balance and the set-up.

"In a way, I'm happy with P4 because I felt like it could have been a lot worse. But my lap was shocking."

By contrast, Verstappen - who has not won any of the last eight races - was happy with his start to a weekend in which Red Bull are aiming to shift the championship momentum back in their favour armed with revisions to their car's engine cover and floor edge.

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"The whole day the car was working well," said the Dutchman, who completed a Sprint-Grand Prix victory double at last year's Austin race.

"I'm happy to be first, it's been a while, so happy with today."

Verstappen has won all three of this season's Sprint races, which were held in the first part of the season when Red Bull still largely had the quickest car.

Should pole have been Hamilton's?

Armed with their own upgrades for the first race weekend of F1's run-in to the end of the season, Mercedes' W15 had looked a handful in practice with Hamilton and Russell spinning off track.

But the car appeared to have good pace too and after going second-fastest in SQ1 and third-fastest in SQ2, Hamilton started the deciding SQ3 segment strongly and was four tenths up on the sister Mercedes through the lap's first sector.

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But Colapinto had got between the two Silver Arrows on the track and the Argentine rookie triggered yellow flags for the oncoming Hamilton after spinning at Turn 12, which forced the Briton to slow down on the straight. He then misjudged his braking and ran slightly deep when he reached the corner, with the promising lap by then ruined.

A rueful-sounding Hamilton said over Mercedes team radio "come on guys, that was not good," a message to which his race engineer Peter Bonnington replied: "Yeah, copy Lewis. Understood."

Speaking after qualifying seventh, Hamilton said: "Just got unlucky with the yellow flag. It is what it is. I was four tenths up.

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"It is what it is. The good thing is that the team has made a step with the car. The upgrade has clearly worked and I'm really grateful to everyone back at the factory for all the hard work over this period of time because it's been a tough slog for everyone to get the upgrades and make sure that they're working.

"It's not the end of the day, tomorrow we've got another chance.

Sky Sports F1's live United States GP schedule

Saturday October 19
6pm: United States GP Sprint build-up
7pm: United States GP Sprint
8.30pm: Ted's Sprint Notebook
10pm: United States GP Qualifying build-up*
11pm: United States GP Qualifying*
(Sunday) 1am: Ted's Qualifying Notebook

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Sunday October 20
6.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: United States GP build-up*
8pm: THE UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX*
10pm: Chequered Flag: United States GP reaction
11pm: Ted's Notebook

*also live on Sky Sports Main Event (Sunday's race build-up from 7.15pm)

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