Oscar Piastri claimed it was "just a racing incident" following his sprint collision with team-mate Lando Norris ahead of the United States Grand Prix on Sunday.

Max Verstappen claimed pole position for the race in Austin ahead of Lando Norris, despite being unable to complete his final qualifying lap.

The Red Bull driver still finished 0.291 seconds clear of Norris, strengthening his push to rejoin the title fight, while championship leader Piastri could only manage sixth place.

Both McLaren drivers struggled to find rhythm after the team was forced to carry out repairs on their cars following a collision between them during a multi-car incident in Saturday’s sprint race, leaving Norris second and Piastri sixth on the grid.

MAX VERSTAPPEN TAKES POLE AT COTA!!

An absolutely mighty lap secures the Red Bull driver the fastest time! #F1 #USGP pic.twitter.com/jzgRor0eZs

— Formula 1 (@F1) October 18, 2025

"I didn't really make any mistakes, just didn’t feel like I really got into a rhythm for the whole session, just struggled. We’ll go and have a look at why, obviously. But, yeah, that was obviously a battle," Piastri said. 

"Max has looked quick all weekend, so we’ll have to wait and see if that translates to tomorrow as well, but we have no idea."

McLaren headed into qualifying after extensive repairs were needed following their sprint race collision, leaving both drivers without any meaningful running since Friday."I think it is just a racing incident," Piastri added.

"Lando and I were a long way away from the apex and it’s impossible to see everything at that point, so if I had have known that there was three-wide behind me, maybe I would have done something a little bit different. But you have to trust your gut and your instinct, and that’s what I did."

Piastri finished 0.574 seconds behind pole-sitter Verstappen and three-tenths adrift of Norris — mirroring his gap from sprint qualifying. The Australian has not started from the front row since the Dutch Grand Prix in August.

Norris will be hoping he can find the same form that saw him triumph at the Hungarian Grand Prix back in August.

"It was a bit more of a struggle for whatever reason," Norris said after qualifying. 

"[On Friday] I was just quite comfortable and I don't know if it's just everyone else has improved a bit, or the wind has hurt us a bit more, but we were both struggling to put the laps in and be as quick as this guy [Verstappen].

"We were pushing and I'm still happy with P2. It could have been worse, but there was no chance we could have got on pole."