Kimi Antonelli secured pole position for the United States Grand Prix, edging out the Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar to set the fastest time in Qualifying.
On a weekend when the Italian could be crowned the World Champion, his first lap of 1m 34.035s in Q3 was enough to take pole, with no one able to find the improvements needed to challenge him in the final minutes.
Verstappen was nearly two-tenths off the pace in P2 as he went marginally quicker than Hadjar and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, while Lewis Hamilton settled for fifth place.
Mercedes’ George Russell was a frustrating P6 ahead of McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who moved up a place after his team mate Lando Norris’ time was deleted for track limits, relegating the Briton to P8.
Although Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson completed the top 10, the former will receive a five-place penalty for exceeding the permitted internal combustion engine allocation.
Pierre Gasly came close to squeezing into the top 10 but ultimately missed out by just 0.022s in 11th, qualifying ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto as Audi’s tow strategy didn’t work out.
Franco Colapinto followed in 14th for Alpine but he will lose 10 positions for taking a new control electronics unit, promoting Fernando Alonso and Ollie Bearman who initially finished P15 and P16 in Qualifying.
Esteban Ocon couldn’t find the time he needed to progress to Q2 and was eliminated in P17, leading Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and the Williams duo of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon as the Spaniard suffered his worst Qualifying result at this track since his rookie season.
Lastly, Cadillac rounded out the order with Sergio Perez taking P21 ahead of Valtteri Bottas in P22, but they will gain a position each once Colapinto and Bortoleto’s grid penalties are applied for changing multiple power unit components.
AS IT HAPPENED
Q1 – Norris tops the times as Qualifying gets underway
If three hours of Free Practice at the Circuit of The Americas had proved one thing, it was that track limits could play a major role in Qualifying, with no driver having escaped the unwanted deletion of lap times.
Hamilton was the driver to beat in FP3, following up on his team mate’s strong performances during Friday’s running, but would Ferrari be able to convert that pace into pole position?
Once the light at the end of the pit lane turned green at 1600 local time, the drivers from Cadillac, Aston Martin and Williams were amongst the first to venture out for Q1.
With their opening laps complete, Ferrari were the first of the frontrunners to set a benchmark as Leclerc posted a 1m 35.200s – nearly four-tenths adrift of Hamilton’s time in final practice.
While the Scuderia pair ran the soft tyres, McLaren’s Piastri moved into third place on the medium compound before Norris – also on the softs – displaced him, as did efforts by Antonelli and Russell.
Around nine tenths separated the best laps on the two compounds, with Red Bull making the most of the grippier rubber to get within a tenth of Leclerc’s time. Hulkenberg and Bortoleto also looked impressive for Audi, breaking into the top 10 alongside Racing Bulls driver Lawson.
As the clock ticked down, Colapinto, Ocon, Albon, Perez, Bottas and Gasly – whose first attempt had been deleted for track limits – found themselves in the drop zone, putting greater pressure on their outstanding laps.
Most of the top eight felt safe enough to stay in their garages for the final minutes as the rest of the field chased improvement, which Alpine achieved as Colapinto and Gasly shot up to P11 and P13 respectively.
But arguably the most eye-catching lap came from Norris as he snatched P1 from Leclerc by a margin of 0.171s, demonstrating that McLaren could be in the battle for pole position later in the hour.
That left Ocon, Stroll, Sainz, Albon, Perez and Bottas as those knocked out of the opening segment of Qualifying, causing Albon to despondently question why Williams sent him out “so early”.
Knocked out: Ocon, Stroll, Sainz, Albon, Perez, Bottas
Q2 – Leclerc claims top spot as Audi and Alpine miss out
The remaining 16 drivers all plumped for the soft tyres as they prepared to fight for a place in the top 10, with Verstappen continuing his mighty form of recent rounds by seizing P1 with a 1m 34.471s, marginally faster than Norris.
Piastri had a much more frustrating time in the second McLaren and wound up nine-tenths off the pace in P10, putting him firmly at risk alongside the likes of Lindblad and the Alpine’s Gasly and Colapinto.
With just a few minutes to go, it looked as though Audi had opted to play the team game due to Bortoleto’s incoming grid penalty, recruiting the Brazilian to give Hulkenberg a tow and increase his chances of making it into Q2. It wasn’t to be.
A flurry of improvements came elsewhere as the chequered flag fell, with Leclerc reclaiming first place from Antonelli and Russell. Verstappen also safely progressed along with the McLarens, Hamilton, Hadjar and the Racing Bulls machines.
A late effort from Lindblad saw Gasly miss out by an agonising 0.022s, with both Audi drivers, Colapinto, Alonso and Bearman also being eliminated – the Haas man had his time deleted for track limits.
Knocked out: Gasly, Hulkenberg, Bortoleto, Colapinto, Alonso, Bearman
Q3 – Antonelli charges to pole ahead of Verstappen
With just 10 cars left in the running, the time had arrived for the highly anticipated shoot-out, and it still seemed impossible to predict who would put it all together. Could Verstappen or Norris lead the way, or would Ferrari and Mercedes get back in front?
Russell boldly went first and executed a 1m 34.476s, which proved to be a relatively conservative lap as Antonelli went four-tenths clear, followed by solid efforts from Verstappen, Hadjar and Leclerc.
Hamilton could only manage sixth on his opening run, joining both McLarens in the bottom half of the order as Verstappen reported that driving felt “very tricky with the grip”, which partly explained his deficit of 0.179s to provisional polesitter Antonelli.
While Racing Bulls decided not to go for another flying lap, leaving Lindblad in P9 ahead of Lawson, the other eight contenders all targeted improvements. Ultimately, no one was able to challenge Antonelli as the Italian secured his seventh pole position of the season, having abandoned his second lap.
It was a mighty session for Red Bull as Verstappen and Hadjar took P2 and P3 ahead of the Ferraris of Leclerc and Hamilton, with Russell finishing P6.
Norris dropped behind seventh-placed Piastri once his time was deleted for track limits, while Racing Bulls’ Lindblad and Lawson rounded out the top 10 positions.
Key quote
“We got pole so we’ll try to win tomorrow,” said Antonelli. “Max has been very quick, and also Isack did an incredible job in Qualifying. It’s not going to be easy but we’ll try to get a good start and hopefully lead into Turn 1, and then we’ll try to set the pace, even though it’s going to be very tight. I’m very happy with Qualifying today – Q3 was very tough with the wind, very gusty and unpredictable. I’m happy that we stuck it on pole.”
What’s next
The 2026 United States Grand Prix is set to begin at 1500 local time on Sunday. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can follow the action from Austin.
