US Grand Prix 2025: Max Verstappen edges McLaren to pole in qualifying as Driver Championship heats up

Piastri falters, Verstappen follows sprint win with pole in qualifying

The 2025 US Grand Prix weekend kicked off on the perfect note for defending champion Max Verstappen, as he stormed to victory in the sprint race, 0.071 seconds ahead of Lando Norris on Friday at the Circuit of the Americas. 

The Dutchman’s performance was another indication that Red Bull is still firmly in the dogfight to keep the Drivers' Championship race alive, with Verstappen now 33 points behind Norris in second and 55 off the current leader Oscar Piastri. 

The defending champion’s weekend got even better on Saturday, when he stormed to pole position in qualifying, posting a time of 1m 32.510, beating Norris in P2 by 0.291s. Check out our F1 predictions for all the takeaways from the US GP qualifying. 

Piastri, who crashed out in the sprint race, will have it all to do in Austin on Sunday after clocking a best time of 1m 33.084, which was only good for P6, behind Charles Leclerc (P3), George Russell (P4) and Lewis Hamilton (P5). 

Our experts seemed to have been impressed by the performance of Carlos Sainz, according to our USA Grand Prix predictions. While the Spaniard only managed P9 for Sunday’s main race, he went third-fastest in the sprint. 

Haas’ Oliver Bearman had an exceptional run during qualifying, equaling his best performance for P8, while rebounding from a frustrating sprint session in which he was slapped with a 10-second time penalty that ended his hopes of securing any points. 

US Grand Prix Starting Grid

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Pressure on McLaren as Red Bull narrows gap in F1 title race 

McLaren’s Formula 1 boss Zak Brown spoke to the media on Friday, when he revealed that his team firmly believe that Max Verstappen is still in the running for the Drivers’ Championship and expected the climax of the 2025 season to be “brutal”.

Brown’s statement was proven to be true just hours later, after the Red Bull ace clinched pole in the sprint race, and it was reinforced on Saturday when the defending champion continued his excellent form by securing P1 for the US Grand Prix. 

Verstappen enters the US Grand Prix off the back of two wins in his last three races, along with a second-place finish a couple of weeks ago at the Singapore GP, which was won by Mercedes’ driver George Russell. 

Following the Papaya team's disappointment in the sprint race, many have suggested that McLaren simply does not look to have the same dominance we saw earlier this season. Indeed, Piastri held a 104-point lead over Verstappen as recently as August 31. 

Given the performances this weekend in Austin, it seems inevitable that the Australian will lose further ground to the Dutchman on Sunday, while Norris could also take a decent chunk out of the 22-point deficit that he is in behind his teammate. 

If the current leader crashes out on Sunday as he did in the sprint race, the Drivers' Championship could well and truly be blown wide open this weekend, setting us up for a grandstand final stretch of the season. 

2025 F1 Driver Standings

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