Max Verstappen seals Sprint Pole at United States Grand Prix
18th October 2025Red Bull’s reigning world champion, Max Verstappen has taken sprint pole for the upcoming sprint race at the United States Grand Prix, pipping both McLarens.
Feature image credit: Getty Images // Red Bull Content Pool
Verstappen, the ever-daring Dutch Lion, waited until the end to put in his fastest lap time on the board to beat McLaren’s Lando Norris by 0.071 seconds.
Norris had set the pace throughout sprint qualifying, topping the timing sheets in both SQ1, SQ2 and even topping SQ3. However, Verstappen on his final run put in a lap time of 1m 32.143s to go top.
The sister McLaren, driven by Oscar Piastri, rounded out the top three, 0.309 seconds behind Norris and his championship rivals.
Kick Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg put in the fourth-best time on the board, ahead of Mercedes’ race-winner last time out, George Russell and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, in fifth and sixth, respectively.
Despite limited running for Carlos Sainz, at Williams, after the Spaniard had to pull into the pits for a new gearbox – curtailing his practice session early, the #55 Williams managed to work his way into SQ3 to go seventh overall.
Sainz’s teammate, Alexander Albon, also found himself in the top 10 shootout, qualifying ninth overall.
This left the two Ferrari’s to fill the void in the top 10, in what was a challenging session for the Scuderia, with Lewis Hamilton edging out his teammate Charles Leclerc. The seven-time world champion occupied eighth whilst Leclerc finished 10th.
The sprint race will get underway at 12pm local time ahead of traditional qualifying later on.
Read more Formula 1 here:
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- Mercedes go ‘into the unknown’ ahead of celebratory USA GP
- USA GP Preview: Oscar Piastri looks to bounce back as Verstappen and Norris tighten gap
- United States Grand Prix: the latest weather report
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
