Lando Norris secured his seventh pole position in F1 at the Circuit of the Americas, taking advantage from George Russell's last-minute yellow flag, which prevented Max Verstappen from completing his final attempt. Carlos Sainz will start third. 

The qualifying session was interrupted just as it was heating up. With only a few seconds left in Q3, Russell lost control in T19 and crashed into the barriers. At that moment, Norris was in pole with a 1m32.330s, closely followed by Verstappen, who was set to improve his time. However, all the drivers were forced to lift off due to the yellow flag.

Even though Verstappen was likely to beat Norris’s time, the McLaren driver deserves credit for his earlier performance. In his first Q3 attempt, the Brit delivered an impressive, risky lap, managing to keep the car on track. Such unexpected events can occur in racing, and the drivers are well aware of this. Tomorrow's race is set to be thrilling, with both title contenders starting from the front row.

It was a challenging qualifying for Mercedes. The shock came early in Q1 when Lewis Hamilton failed to qualify for Q2 due to a mistake at T12. The seven-time world champion ran wide, leading to his time being cancelled, leaving him in 19th place. Russell's situation added to the struggle: he lost control in T19 and went off track. Thankfully, he is okay after the heavy impact. Moreover, since no drivers completed laps in their second attempts following the crash, Russell will start sixth.

Ferrari leaves this session with mixed feelings. Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc will start third and fourth, respectively, but there’s regret since both could have improved their times and aimed for more. Starting from the second row presents both opportunities and challenges. On the one hand, Ferrari can attack from the front with two drivers, which is an advantage. On the other hand, Sainz and Leclerc's earlier struggles in the Sprint Race showed how they can interfere with each other.

Oscar Piastri was back in the fight for top positions after his Sprint qualifying time was canceled for track limits at the end of Q1. However, he remained 0.620s behind Norris. Pierre Gasly had a solid qualifying session, finishing seventh with his Alpine, followed by Fernando Alonso, Kevin Magnussen, and Sergio Perez, who continued to struggle. For Red Bull, competing with McLaren for the Constructors' Championship, Perez's performance is crucial: the Mexican needs to improve.

Sprint Qualifying results
P1) Lando Norris 1.32.330
P2) Max Verstappen +0.031
P3) Carlos Sainz +0.322
P4) Charles Leclerc +0.410
P5) Oscar Piastri +0.620
P6) George Russell +0.644
P7) Pierre Gasly +0.688
P8) Fernando Alonso +0.979
P9) Kevin Magnussen +1.151
P10) Sergio Perez (no time)