After a four-week break, the final phase of the Formula 1 season begins with the US Grand Prix. World championship leader Max Verstappen secures pole position for the sprint in Austin, Texas.
On the front row of the grid alongside the world champion in the Red Bull, who has won all of the first three sprint races of the season, is George Russell. The British Mercedes driver was twelve thousandths slower than Verstappen in the decisive part of the qualifying session for the sprint.
He was immediately followed by Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and Briton Lando Norris in the McLaren, who lost 0.250 seconds in fourth place. Verstappen's lead in the overall standings with six GP weekends remaining is 52 points over Norris. The sprint race means that a driver can score a maximum of 34 points on the circuit in Austin.
Team Sauber, which has not scored any points this season, did not show any signs of improvement in Texas either. The Finn Valtteri Bottas starts the sprint from 19th on the grid, while the Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu starts from the very back in 20th position.
The start of the 100 km race is at 20:00 Swiss time on Saturday. The main race, which is around three times as long, will take place on Sunday evening from 21:00.
SDA
