Max Verstappen finished a “very good day” for Red Bull by securing pole position for the Sprint race at the United States Grand Prix.

Although McLaren’s Lando Norris had led the way in Friday’s practice and the first two qualifying sessions, Verstappen was 0.071 seconds quicker than the British driver on their final laps.

Verstappen is currently 63 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri, who finished third in qualifying, in the drivers’ standings, but could make a significant dent into that gap with strong performances in both the Sprint race and Sunday’s main event.

The reigning world champions, and 12-time Sprint winner, is hoping for a fast start in what he expects to be a “tough battle” on Saturday.

“Just try to have a good start. It’s a wide turn one as well, and then I hope that we have good pace in the race, but we’ll find out tomorrow,” said Verstappen when asked about his Sprint race strategy.

“It’s been a nice qualifying. Throughout all the segments we were quite close, just about trying to put it all together when it matters at the end, which is not easy because you go to the soft compound with no reference really.

“It worked out well, but I still expect it to be a tough battle tomorrow in the Sprint, but that’s I think exactly what we want to see. I’m excited for tomorrow and happy with today.

“The wind was coming up and down, very gusty. The track is very bumpy as well, so the cars can easily step out on you in the high speed. In a qualifying like that, you have to leave a few margins here and there, but for us this has been a very good day.”

That will do for starters #F1 || #USGP  pic.twitter.com/rTccjxcRGI

— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) October 17, 2025

Norris, who is also hoping to cut into his team-mates’ 22-point lead, was not surprised to see Verstappen clinch pole position, but hopes he can find a bit more pace in the race.

“Of course would have loved to be on pole, but not a surprise for us to be just a bit slower than the Red Bull lately, so still pretty happy,” said Norris.

“I don't know how much I was off by, but a little couple of things probably here and there I could have improved on, and just caught a few bumps a little bit wrong, but that's just the difficulty of this track.

“We have struggled the whole year with our qualy pace, especially when it's close and it's been close today. So that's why I would say not a surprise but we have more hopes for the race we can get back ahead.”

United States Grand Prix Sprint qualifying

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

2. Lando Norris (McLaren)

3. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

4. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)

5. George Russell (Mercedes)

6. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

7. Carlos Sainz (Williams)

8. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)

9. Alex Albon (Williams)

10. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)