U.S. GP: Lando Norris on pole ahead of Max Verstappen as George Russell crashes

AUSTIN — Lando Norris will start from pole position at the U.S. Grand Prix after a George Russell crash in qualifying brought an early end to the session just as Max Verstappen looked on course to beat the McLaren driver to the fastest time.

Verstappen, who leads Norris by 54 points in the drivers’ standings after his sprint race victory on Saturday, was on a faster lap than his title rival when Russell crashed at the penultimate corner and brought out yellow flags that effectively ended the session.

Norris’ was 0.031 seconds faster than Verstappen after their first runs in Q3, meaning he secured pole position when the session ended.

Informed of the result over the team radio, he said: “F—ing beautiful!”

After the session, Norris said: “It was a beautiful lap, I was not going to go much quicker than what I did — you know when you just do a lap and you think it’s going to be tough to beat that. I put everything out on the line and we’ve been on the backfoot all weekend, we’ve not had the pace of the Ferrari or Red Bulls so I had to do something and today I did that, a cool lap and a nice way to start the race tomorrow.”

However, after finishing third in the sprint race earlier in the day, the McLaren driver still faces a big challenge to hold off Verstappen on Sunday and convert his pole into a fourth career win.

Verstappen said afterwards: “In the first part of Q3 there I lost a lot of time, but I knew that we had another run. But I couldn’t finish a lap otherwise we had a really good shot. If I’m on the front row at least the potential to be first was there.”

Carlos Sainz, who beat Norris to second place with a last lap move in the sprint race, qualified third ahead of Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.

Sainz said the session was a good step forward: “Yesterday we were P5, today we were P3 so we did a good step in the right direction. I’m a bit gutted for the last lap because I was three tenths up on my lap, but it’s easy to say now.

“I think we’ve done some good progress, we should be in the fight tomorrow if we can get a good start and with the two guys in front it should be a fun one.”

Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri will start in fifth place ahead of Russell’s Mercedes in sixth, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in seventh, the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso in eighth and the Haas of Kevin Magnussen in ninth.

Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Perez, will start tenth after failing to set a time in Q3.

Yuki Tsunoda missed out on a place in the top by 0.032 seconds and will start Sunday’s race from 11th on the grid ahead of Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll.

Daniel Ricciardo’s replacement at RB, Liam Lawson, opted against setting a time in Q2 as a grid penalty for a power unit change ahead of the weekend means he is set to start from the back of the grid regardless of his time. Lawson set a time in Q1 that would have made the cut for Q3, but in Q2 only went back on track to attempt to give teammate Tsunoda a slipstream.

Lewis Hamilton failed to get out of the first session of qualifying after setting a lap 0.121 seconds off the cutoff point for Q2. The seven-time world champion said the car was “a nightmare” complaining of inconsistencies in balance and no grip.

Mercedes discovered a suspension issue on Hamilton’s car after Saturday’s sprint race, in which he finished sixth, but believed it had fixed it ahead of qualifying. Hamilton, who set the 19th fastest time in Q1, said he wanted to start from the pit lane on Sunday so that the team can alter his setup before the race start.

Russell, who reported he was OK after the crash, said he was “confused” as to why it happened.

“I’m a little bit confued why yesterday me and Lewis were in the fight for pole and today something was missing,” he said. “The car didn’t feel as put together, it just seems like such a theme at the moment that when we find a sweet spot we have a car that’s capable of pole positions and race wins and when we can’t find that sweet spot we are nowhere.”

Williams drivers Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto were also knocked out in Q1 and will start 15th and 16th ahead of Sauber driver Valtteri Bottas. The second Sauber of Zhou Guanyu qualified 20th but will start 19th with Lawson’s penalty applied.