F1 United States GP: Kimi Antonelli secures pole position while George Russell qualifies in sixth place.

Championship frontrunner Kimi Antonelli has secured his seventh pole position of 2026 at the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix, edging out Max Verstappen in a nail-biting qualifying session in Austin.

Antonelli achieved pole with his first of two runs in Q3, clocking a 1m34.035s, placing him ahead of Red Bull drivers Verstappen and Isack Hadjar by approximately two tenths, as most frontrunners did not improve on their final laps.

This marks Antonelli's first pole since the summer break, denying Verstappen a third consecutive pole and disrupting the weekend trend where Verstappen and the two Ferraris appeared to have a slight advantage over Mercedes on the challenging 5.5km Circuit of the Americas.

Despite a strong performance in practice and leading Q2, Leclerc could only manage fourth place when it counted, with Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton finishing fifth.

George Russell finished a disappointing sixth, followed by McLaren teammates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, the latter dropping two places after his final lap was disqualified for exceeding track limits.

Meanwhile, Racing Bulls drivers Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson further bolstered their team's bid to solidify fifth place in the standings.

With Lindblad facing a five-place grid penalty for changing to a new combustion engine, Lawson chose to sit out Q3 to limit the impact on his teammate. Lawson will start ninth, while Lindblad is set to begin from 14th.

Q2 - Ferrari fastest

Leclerc topped Q2 with a time of 1m34.198s on his second attempt, surpassing Antonelli and Russell as well as an early benchmark set by Verstappen.

The fight for the remaining Q3 positions included Piastri, who struggled to put together a solid first lap and required a second effort to climb to sixth after initially qualifying in provisional 10th. Lindblad and Lawson also made late improvements to secure spots in the top 10 during a dramatic finish to the segment, eliminating the Alpine and Audi cars.

Pierre Gasly was the first to fall short of the cutoff by just 0.022s for Alpine, followed by Audi's Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, while Franco Colapinto, Fernando Alonso, and Oliver Bearman also did not advance. Haas driver Bearman had a lap that was quick enough for 13th canceled due to track limits at Turn 11.

Bortoleto will face a back-of-the-grid start due to taking a new Audi power unit, but he advanced to Q2 to assist Hulkenberg with a valuable slipstream on COTA's long straight. Alpine's Colapinto will receive a 10-place grid penalty for installing new engine control electronics, joining Bortoleto at the back of the grid for Sunday’s race.