Verstappen stuns again with sprint pole ahead of Norris and Piastri

A sublime final sector from the Dutchman allowed him to leapfrog the two McLarens, who had dominated the first two parts of the session, giving him a tenth sprint pole in 22 sprint weekends.

Behind the front three, Nico Hulkenberg found some unbelievable pace in the Sauber to take P4 ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell in fifth, with Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin P6.

Carlos Sainz took P7 in the Williams, with the British team looking very handy at the Circuit of The Americas, coming ahead of Lewis Hamilton in eighth in the Ferrari, while teammate Alex Albon took P9. Charles Leclerc, in the other Ferrari, rounded out the top ten.

A three-way battle took place for the final spot in SQ3 between Hamilton, Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli that saw the young Italian exit prematurely.

Leclerc saw some major struggles early on that put him down in P13, but a much-improved final lap saw him make the final part of the session.

Lewis Hamilton then did just enough to sneak into SQ3, going just 0.006 seconds quicker than Antonelli, which saw the Mercedes driver miss out.

After just one practice session around the Circuit of The Americas that saw a shaken-up final standings, there was a lot of intrigue coming into the fourth sprint qualifying of the season.

Yuki Tsunoda's disastrous stint at Red Bull continued, unable to set a final lap in SQ1 before he crossed the start/finish straight, consigning him to P18 and another early exit.

Along with the Japanese driver, the Haas pair of Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon were eliminated, as well as Franco Colpinto in the Alpine, and the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto, who was unable to set a time.

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