Formula 1 season leader Max Verstappen secured pole position for the sprint race at the United States Grand Prix, narrowly beating Mercedes' George Russell in qualifying.

Russell had set the early benchmark in Q3, with neither McLaren's Lando Norris nor Ferrari's pair of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz managing to surpass the Briton's time. However, in the final moments of the session, Verstappen delivered a near-perfect lap in his Red Bull, snatching the top spot by just 0.012 seconds.

As a result, Russell will join Verstappen on the front row for the sprint race, while Leclerc and Norris will start third and fourth, respectively, ahead of Sainz and Nico Hülkenberg, who rounded out the top six.

Lewis Hamilton qualified seventh, with Haas driver Kevin Magnussen securing eighth. Yuki Tsunoda from Red Bull Racing and Franco Colapinto of Williams completed the top 10.

US Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying Top 10

Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – 1:32.833
George Russell (Mercedes) +0.012
Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.226
Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.250
Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +0.256
Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) +0.350
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +0.545
Kevin Magnussen (Haas) +0.565
Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) +0.969
Franco Colapinto (Williams) +1.573