Red Bull reacts to the start number drama with Max Verstappen’s F1 sprint pole

Amid the off-track number saga, Red Bull delivered on track as Max Verstappen took the F1 sprint pole at the US GP.

Max Verstappen put his improved Red Bull RB20 on sprint pole in Austin, while Mercedes driver George Russell, who started early and wanted to compete against the late runners, had to make do with a place on the front row.

Max Verstappen back on pole for the US GP F1 sprint

Armed with just an hour of free practice experience, it was time for the drivers to tackle qualifying for the US Grand Prix F1 Sprint in Austin.

Medium Pirelli tires were required for the SQ1 and SQ2 segments, before soft tires came into play for the Sprint Pole Shootout.

The drama began early on when Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas was let into the path of Sergio Perez in the Red Bull, narrowly missing in the pitlane, while Perez’s teammate Verstappen wasted no time securing P1, despite quickly getting away from it Haas was ousted by Kevin Magnussen with a 1:34.4.

The times were close in the battle for second place as Lewis Hamilton took his Mercedes to P1 with a time of 1:33.8 and Leclerc and Norris completed the top three places. Esteban Ocon, Nico Hülkenberg, Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu and Sergio Perez found themselves in the elimination zone with just a few minutes to go.

Alex Albon miraculously got out of a spin in the penultimate corner still moving in the right direction, but that was his SQ1 exit confirmed as he joined Zhou, Bottas, Ocon and, shocked, Piastri after a costly one Route limit eliminated If he violated his last attempt, his last attempt was canceled. Leclerc came out ahead of Hamilton in the session.

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SQ2 and a 1:33.274 from Sainz was the time to beat as Verstappen started his first flying lap and pushed for a place in the sprint pole shootout.

P2 had to do for Verstappen, although he was just 0.016 seconds behind Sainz’s benchmark as he showed great respect for the limits of the track boundaries along the way.

Kevin Magnussen complained about a “dangerous” VCARB leaving the pits, while Verstappen was unhappy with the RB20 drive in the final laps.

Perez, Fernando Alonso, Liam Lawson, Pierre Gasly, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso were out. Gasly, meanwhile, was noted for potentially hindering Colapinto through the Esses on the in-lap to the pits. No further action would be taken.

But it was now time for SQ3 as the soft tires came into play. Who would be on the sprint pole in Austin?

Hamilton felt he had started too early in his attempt to grab the top spot on the grid. Teammate Russell was half a second ahead of his teammate Hamilton and secured provisional pole for the Mercedes drivers in the opening runs.

But as the runners made their attempt at the end of the session, Verstappen grabbed the US GP F1 sprint pole and Russell joined him on the front row.

SQ3 times

1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:32.833
2 George Russell Mercedes +0.012
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.226
4 Lando Norris McLaren +0.250
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +0.256
6 Nico Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team +0.350
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +0.545
8 Kevin Magnussen Haas F1 Team +0.565
9 Yuki Tsunoda RB +0.969
10 Franco Colapinto Williams +1,573

SQ2 times

1 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:33.274
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.016
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +0.096
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.118
5 George Russell Mercedes +0.270
6 Lando Norris McLaren +0.292
7 Kevin Magnussen Haas F1 Team +0.514
8 Franco Colapinto Williams +0.678
9 Nico Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team +0.720
10 Yuki Tsunoda RB +0.778
11 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing +0.970
12 Liam Lawson RB +1,010
13 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1,089
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1,147
15 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin NO TIME

SQ1 times

1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:33.647
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +0.193
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.261
4 Lando Norris McLaren +0.272
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +0.462
6 George Russell Mercedes +0.478
7 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +0.677
8 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing +0.686
9 Kevin Magnussen Haas F1 Team +0.756
10 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +0.789
11 Franco Colapinto Williams +0.959
12 Liam Lawson RB +0.970
13 Yuki Tsunoda RB +0.999
14 Nico Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team +1,178
15 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1,218
16 Oscar Piastri McLaren +1,234
17 Esteban Ocon Alpine +1,270
18 Alexander Albon Williams +1,407
19 Valtteri Bottas Kick Clean +1,501
20 Zhou Guanyu Kick Clean +2,825