This is the provisional starting grid for the F1 sprint race in Austin

Max Verstappen will start the sprint race from pole position. Mercedes looked like they were struggling in FP1, but they managed to improve for the first meaningful session of the weekend. George Russell will start on the front row. Lewis Hamilton will start from seventh, but stressed he should've been on pole. Charles Leclerc will start third alongside Lando Norris.

After a three-week break between Singapore and Texas, Formula 1 is back. Several top teams have introduced upgrades this weekend, so the performance order was uncertain. Teams only had 60 minutes of practice time to find the ideal setup with these new upgrades.

The Red Bull Racing team's updates seemed to work from the off, with Verstappen managing to secure pole position for the sprint race. Despite this, his teammate Sergio Perez was knocked out in SQ2 and will start from 11th. Helmut Marko thought Ferrari would be the biggest challenger to Red Bull this weekend, but Leclerc could only manage third with Carlos Sainz in fifth.

The McLarens had a sprint qualifying to forget, however. Lando Norris, Verstappen's title rival, has to make do with fourth place, whilst Oscar Piastri lost his time in SQ1 and will start down in 16th. After replacing Daniel Ricciardo at Visa CashApp RB, Liam Lawson finished P15 in his first qualifying session of the season.

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