Max Verstappen will start the US Grand Prix sprint race from pole position after beating George Russell by 0.012 seconds.

Saturday’s 19-lap sprint race offers Verstappen the opportunity to extend his 52-point lead over Lando Norris in the drivers’ standings, with the McLaren driver qualifying fourth.

The winner of the sprint is offered eight points, including seven for second place and gradual drops of a single point to eighth place.

Verstappen’s fastest time in sprint qualifying secured him his first pole position since the Austrian Grand Prix in July and could signal the start of a Red Bull comeback after a series of difficulties in recent races.

“I’m happy with today,” said the Dutchman. “I think the car worked pretty well all day and I’m obviously very happy to be first. It’s been a while, so yeah, I’m very happy with today.”

ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

---

Norris was just 0.250 seconds behind Verstappen in fourth place, but Russell’s Mercedes and Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari were able to slot into the gap between the title contenders and will start from second and third.

“Not very good, P4. Not a great day,” Norris said. “Honestly, I struggled with balance and setup all day. In a way I’m happy with P4 because I feel like it could have been a lot worse, but my lap was shocking.”

“So yeah, not a terrible day, could have been worse, could have been better, but I’ll take it.”

Carlos Sainz secured fifth place on the grid for Ferrari ahead of Nico Hülkenberg’s Haas in sixth place.

Lewis Hamilton was disappointed to only set the seventh fastest time after receiving the yellow flag in the middle of his fastest lap and ending the session more than half a second ahead of Verstappen. He believed his time in the first sector may have put him in pole position before the yellow flag forced him to slow down.

Kevin Magnussen will start eighth in the second Haas, ahead of RB’s Yuki Tsunoda in ninth and another impressive performance from Williams driver Franco Colapinto in tenth.

Sergio Perez’s problems continued as the Red Bull driver missed out on making it into Q3 by 0.192 seconds.

He starts from 11th on the grid, ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in 12th, while the fastest laps of Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso and Liam Lawson in the second quarter were canceled for exceeding track limits, leaving them 13th, 14th and 15th respectively . place will start.

Lawson returns to Formula 1 with RB this weekend after being announced as Daniel Ricciardo’s replacement following the Singapore Grand Prix. The New Zealander will start 15th for the sprint but will have to start from the back of the grid for Sunday’s race after fitting new powertrain components this weekend that exceed his car’s annual quota.

Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri retired in the first quarter after his fastest lap was canceled for exceeding track limits at Turn 19. He had set the seventh fastest time of the session, but a sudden oversteer in the penultimate corner caused all four wheels to break on the edge of the circuit and the time erased.

Esteban Ocon will start 17th behind Piastri and ahead of Alex Albon, who was on his way into the race before a spin in the penultimate corner. The Williams driver starts in 18th place ahead of the two Saubers Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu in 19th and 20th place.