F1 US Grand Prix LIVE: Sprint qualifying results and times with Max Verstappen claiming pole

For a sport which struggled for the best part of 70 years to find a home across the Atlantic, Formula One’s presence in the United States has reached unprecedented heights this year. And that’s not just a nod to the three US races, in Miami, Austin and Las Vegas, nor to the boom in popularity stateside – a result of Liberty Media’s 2017 takeover and Netflix’s Drive to Survive fever.

Rather it has been, ahead of the highly charged US presidential election on 5 November, the surprising arena for the two nominees to appear, promote and present themselves in a unique and increasingly attractive way to the electorate.

Full piece below:

All times BST

Friday 18 October

• Sprint qualifying: 10:30pm

Saturday 19 October

• Sprint race: 7pm
• Qualifying: 11pm

Sunday 20 October

• Race: 8pm

Red Bull boss Christian Horner admits his team “need answers” to their driver line-up dilemma as the pressure grows on Sergio Perez.

Mexican driver Perez trails teammate and championship leader Max Verstappen by 187 points after 18 races this year and has not won a grand prix since April 2023.

Perez has a contract with Red Bull until the end of 2025 – with an option to extend for 2026 – but Liam Lawson’s promotion to sister team RB for this weekend’s US Grand Prix indicates that Red Bull are assessing their options ahead of next year.

Having relinquished their spot at the top of the constructors’ standings to McLaren, Red Bull boss Horner acknowledges that his team “can’t afford a big gap” between Verstappen and his team-mate next year.

Full quotes below:

Norris’ car, covered in flow-vis paint, can only go fourth-fastest - but it would have been cancelled in qualifying as he went off the track!

Top of the timesheet? Carlos Sainz with a 1:33:602, 0.021 secs quicker than Charles Leclerc - a Ferrari one-two!

Max Verstappen is third, 0.013 secs quicker than Norris in fourth, with Oscar Piastri in fifth.

6-10: Hamilton, Russell, Magnussen, Alonso, Tsunoda

Advantage Ferrari heading into sprint qualifying later!

Piastri went into the pit lane way too hot and had to drastically stay on track to avoid the wall!

At the top, with all the runners now on softs, Carlos Sainz has toppled Max Verstappen for first place - with Fernando Alonso a surprise name in third!

Lando Norris? Yet to set a time on softs. Five minutes to go!

The championship leader still top with a 1:33:855, 0.783 secs quicker than Sergio Perez in second.

The rest of them? Still not on softs!

3-10: Sainz, Leclerc, Russell, Norris, Alonso, Bottas, Lawson, Tsunoda

10 mins to go!

Max Verstappen storms to the top of the timesheet with a 1:33:855, 0.862 seconds quicker than Carlos Sainz on the hard tyres. Sergio Perez is third on softs, but is not happy.

“The main struggle was the ride in the low speed, I started to bounce a lot more.”

4-10: Leclerc, Russell, Norris, Alonso, Bottas, Lawson, Tsunoda

McLaren, incidentally, have brought seven upgrades to this race!

It’s Ferrari one-two early on on the hard tyres, with Charles Leclerc’s time of 1:34:966 setting the pace at the top - 0.265 secs quicker than teammate Carlos Sainz.

George Russell is third, four-tenths down, with Max Verstappen fourth and Lando Norris in fifth.

6-10: Bottas, Lawson, Perez, Tsunoda, Piastri

High-speed spin in sector one for Lewis Hamilton, but he keeps it out of the barrier by nothing more than pure luck!

“You’ll have to check those damn tyres, and the floor.”

Interesting session so far this, a lot of drivers struggling with grip on this resurfaced track!