US Grand Prix: Max Verstappen takes Austin pole with Lando Norris second and Oscar Piastri sixth

Piastri leads Verstappen by 55 points heading into the grand prix, with Norris 22 behind the Australian.

Verstappen, who topped every session of qualifying, said: “It was good, every segment the car was very strong, just trying to put the lap together around here is very tricky.

“The first run in Q3 was good. Just managed to improve a little bit on Q2. I didn’t manage to do my final run, it was a bit messy with the out laps but fortunately we didn’t need it.”

Norris said: “It was a bit more of a struggle today for whatever reason, yesterday was quite comfortable.

“I don’t know whether others have improved or whether the wind has changed. And it was a bit more of a struggle to keep up with this guy. There was no chance we could have got pole today.

“I look forward to hopefully have a good race with Max. We’ve had some good ones in the past.”

Leclerc had a spin out of the last corner on his first run in qualifying and did not expect such a strong lap at his final attempt.

“It was quite big surprise, especially considering the weekend has been very difficult,” he said. “There are still things we need to understand from this car, there is too much of a swing without changing much the car.”