Verstappen continues perfect run with sprint pole to beat Norris and Piastri at COTA

Written by Maham Mir, Edited by Meghana Sree

Max Verstappen celebrates his 10th overall Sprint Pole position and his third at COTA | Credit: Formula One

Formula One returns to the United States for the first time since Miami earlier this season for the annual visit to the Circuit of the Americas. A staple of the calendar since 2012, the 3.4km track is home for the fourth sprint race weekend of the 2025 season. 

Max Verstappen took sprint qualifying by storm, taking pole ahead of Lando Norris for McLaren with Oscar Piastri completing the top three.

The grid is set ahead of tomorrow’s sprint race, giving the sprint race winner a chance to score eight valuable points.

Lando Norris goes fastest in FP1 in McLaren's special livery for the 2025 United States Grand Prix | Credit: Formula One

Free Practice 1: Norris makes his mark

As the only practice session of the weekend, all the teams were eager to make the most of their limited running ahead of sprint qualifying as the second session of the day.

A red flag was waved due to debris left on the track by Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin which briefly disrupted running for all the teams. Additionally, Carlos Sainz was sidelined for much of the only practice session due to a potential gearbox issue. Sainz’s former teammate Charles Leclerc was also forced to the sidelines during the final part of the session due to another gearbox issue.

Top three for FP1 was Norris with a 1:33.294, joined by Nico Hülkenberg's Sauber making a surprise appearance in second with Piastri rounding out the top three.

Carlos Sainz leaving the garage before being sidelined halfway through the only free practice session of the weekend | Credit: Formula One

SQ1 - Norris continues his good form

All the drivers were using the medium tyres to set their flying lap times in the first part of sprint qualifying. Both issues of traffic and track limits determined parts of this session for drivers across the grid.

Tsunoda was victim to a late call by his team, he failed to get to the line in time to set a final flying lap and so was left with his original lap time of 1:35.259. Both Esteban Ocon and Gabriel Bortoleto were victims to the same issue however Bortoleto ended the first part of sprint qualifying with no time set as his previous lap was deleted due to a track limits violation.

Norris was fourth tenths quicker than the fastest time set last season on this track, only Verstappen was within two tenths with teammate Norris' teammate and championship rival Piastri further behind.

SQ1 Exits

P16 - Ollie Bearman 

P17 - Franco Colapinto

P18 - Yuki Tsunoda

P19 - Esteban Ocon

P20 - Gabriel Bortoleto

A difficult first visit for Bortoleto to the Circuit of the Americas as he failed to progress into SQ2 | Credit: Formula One

SQ2 - Stress-filled session for Ferrari

The grid was split into two different approaches: for some such as the McLaren duo and Verstappen, setting an early lap was key and others, like Hülkenberg and the Racing Bulls duo, were content to set only one flying lap. Once again, all the flying laps on this session were set on the medium tyre, with Lawson’s time later deleted due to a track limits violation at Turn 19. 

Williams showed considerable pace in the early part of SQ2 as both Sainz and Albon set times to enter the top five. On the other side of the coin, Ferrari struggled with their pace over a single lap as they ended the first part of SQ2 in P9 and P10.

In the final moments of SQ2, it seemed as though one Ferrari would knock the other out of the top 10 and yet they both managed to set lap times good enough to enter SQ3. Despite qualifying in the top 10, Ferrari demonstrated yet again their lack of pace over a single lap.

Norris, having set only one flying lap, emerged fastest yet again with Verstappen and Piastri as the drivers to round-off the top three again for SQ2.

SQ2 Exits

P11 - Kimi Antonelli

P12 - Isack Hadjar

P13 - Pierre Gasly

P14 - Lance Stroll

P15 - Liam Lawson

Kimi Antonelli failed to reach SQ3 by 0.006s therefore leaving him P11 | Credit: Formula One

SQ3 - Verstappen takes the grid by storm

The top 10 had seven constructors for SQ3 at the Circuit of the Americas this year. All the flying laps were set on soft tyres for the top ten.

Special mention for Hülkenberg as he had his first top 10 appearance in any qualifying format this year, for both the sprint and Grand Prix. To celebrate this achievement, for a brief moment, the German driver was the fastest man on track although he ultimately qualified in P4.

Another difficult session for Ferrari who seemed to just lack overall pace on the soft tyre. It is important to remember that while teams may favour the main Grand Prix for its larger points haul, the lack of pace for the Prancing Horses will be a cause for concern for qualifying for the full-length race too. Hamilton qualified in P8 as the lead Ferrari with Leclerc at the tail-end of the top 10 in P10.

It was a combination of the usual suspects as Verstappen took the sprint pole with Norris and Piastri rounding off the top three. Verstappen continued his good run of sprints at COTA with his third successive sprint pole at the track and his 10th sprint pole overall. Despite Verstappen’s stellar lap, his sprint pole was determined by less than a tenth of a second.

Top 10

P1 - Max Verstappen

P2 - Lando Norris

P3 - Oscar Piastri

P4 - Nico Hülkenberg

P5 - George Russell

P6 - Fernando Alonso

P7 - Carlos Sainz

P8 - Lewis Hamilton

P9 - Alex Albon

P10 - Charles Leclerc

Verstappen crossed the line as the fastest car in Sprint Qualifying ahead of championship rivals Norris and Piastri | Credit: Formula One

Looking Ahead

The grid for Saturday’s sprint has been set and with only the top eight scoring points, it is certainly guaranteed to be an exciting dash to the chequered flag. Will Verstappen keep his perfect record in sprints at COTA? Will Norris be able to fight Verstappen to take away from his teammate’s championship lead?