Ian Fergusson
BBC weather forecaster

Air temperature 27.6C and track 44.4C; humidity ~27%. Dry and fine.

Brisk wind from the north-east, with gusts to 27mph in the past hour (e.g, effective headwind turns 1-6; a tailwind for DRS straight turns 11-12).

FIA official risk of rain is 0%.

The tyres this weekend are the C1 as the hard, the C3 as the medium and the C4 as the soft compound. Polesitter Max Verstappen and Lando Norris are starting with the yellow mediums, Charles Leclec in third has gone red soft - the opposite to his medium team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

The hards, which are a bit of an unknown, are bolted on at the back of the grid for Esteban Ocon, Alex Albon and Isack Hadjsr.

Image source, Getty Images

Formula 1 visiting the Lone Star State of Texas is here to stay, as the United States Grand Prix has signed a contract extension to remain on the calendar through to the 2034 season.

"Since its debut on the Formula 1 calendar in 2012, the United States Grand Prix has evolved into one of the sport’s biggest spectacles," said F1 president Stefano Domenicali.

"Each year, the event at the Circuit of the Americas stands out as a true highlight for fans, drivers, and teams alike."

It's almost time to go racing...

Anon: Biggest first corner of the season this for Lando, Oscar, and for the Championship.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Austin

Speaking to Andrea Stella the [McLaren] team principal last night, he was basically saying he was concerned that Verstappen and Red Bull will be the fastest combination for the rest of the season, every race. Until now they've been saying it's track characteristics in Baku and Monza and Singapore that have lent the form away from them. Now we have come back to a normal circuit, with a big mix of corners and they still haven't shown the pace they have shown this season.

With the constructors' title already in the trophy cabinet over at McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull are left to fight it out for second place. Mercedes hold that position heading into today's race in Austin, 26 points clear of Ferrari in third and 33 points free of fourth-placed Red Bull.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon's points in the sprint has moved Williams onto 111 in fifth, while sixth-placed Racing Bulls are four ahead of Aston Martin in seventh.

Image source, Getty Images

Oscar Piastri's championship lead is slowing being nibbled away by four-time title winner Max Verstappen. The Australian still sits top of the pile with six races to go, 22 points clear of team-mate Lando Norris, but now the Dutchman in third is only 55 points.

Carlos Sainz benefitted from the chaos at Turn One in the sprint on Saturday and moves into the top 10, one point ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, who is now 11th, and one point away from ninth-placed Isack Hadjar.

Image source, Getty Images

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra

McLaren CEO Zak Brown speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live: "Very proud, we put on good shows here [in the US]. Now it is our time to put on a good race for the fans. We're going to give it our best shot again. Formula 1 is not easy, it is a tricky Turn One, three or four cars trying to funnel into one apex. Hopefully we have learnt a bit from yesterday and we will give it another go today.

Does Max Verstappen worry him?: "Everything worries me in a Formula 1 race."

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Austin

Image source, Getty Images

Pirelli’s decision to split the compounds and put a step between the hard and medium tyres was aimed at trying to make this race a two-stop strategy. But last year it was a one-stop and that is expected to be the same this year, primarily on the medium and hard tyres.

But strategy is still relatively open. For example, a team might end up doing a medium-soft one-stop if the degradation is low and they can run and run on the medium tyres. Conversely, it might turn out to be an advantage to run hard on the tyres and do a two-stop, because overtaking is relatively easy here and the DRS offset is big, at about 21km/h end of straight.

McLaren are hoping that their traditional race-distance tyre-usage advantage might appear again this weekend on a more traditional track after the low-deg races of Monza, Baku and Singapore, and assist them in their battle with Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. But that remains to be seen in the context of the improvements Red Bull have made to their car in recent races.

Additionally, not running in the sprint because of the crash at the first corner puts McLaren at a disadvantage because they don’t have the data on plank wear and so on to go as aggressive as they might have liked on set-up, particularly ride-height. They have had to build in some margin.

At the same time, the wind has changed direction, which could change tyre degradation levels compared to the sprint. It is now a headwind through the Esses, which will make them very fast, but a tailwind in the second part of the lap, which could lead to brake-locking and sliding in the slower corners there, increasing tyre wear. At the same time, the extra speed through the Esses make the lap much faster - by as much as two seconds. Which again could have an impact on tyre life.

A pit stop costs about 21-22 seconds, half that under a safety car.

McLaren's Lando Norris spoke to Sky Sports about the changing conditions for the race from yesterday:

"I feel good, after yesterday we didn't have the best pace, but today is a completely different day, different weather, wind which feels different in the car, and I am praying it suits us more than the others.

"Where they (Red Bull) were quicker than us yesterday was the slow speed corner, which is where the wind is a lot different today, so it's difficult to know, but we'll see what we can do."

Damon Hill
1996 world champion on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra in Austin

I don't think Max Verstappen thinks anyone can stop him but I also think he is also realistic.

He was an outside chance and it looked very much, most of the season, it looked like Oscar Piastri was a very comfortable leader in the championship and Lando was having trouble catching his pace.

The Red Bulls weren't happy but they've done something. He is happier now with his car, he is putting it to good effect. Now we've got the McLarens tripping over each other.

You had Oscar very uncharacteristically drop points in Baku and Lando seems to have got the pace.

Nulla: McLaren needs to start taking this seriously. The only person benefiting from “Papaya Rules” is Max Verstappen.

Image source, Getty Images

Charles Leclerc was winner in Austin this time last year from fourth on the grid, sweeping past the battle between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris at the first corner, on his way to a one-stop victory.

This season, Leclerc, who turned 28 this week, was pipped to a seat on the front row by Lando Norris - he even spun at the final corner on his run in Q3 -and will start third - quite the surprise for the Monegasque driver after Ferrari's poor showing on Friday.

Image source, EPA

Lewis Hamilton is still searching for his first proper podium since his blockbuster move to the Italian team but on Saturday, he was just 0.105 seconds off team-mate Leclerc and will take his place in fifth. The car, however, "still wasn't quite right throughout qualifying", said the seven-time world champion. "I had massive understeer from the beginning so bit by bit I was adding and adding wing."

Team principal Frederic Vasseur, meanwhile, has been given the seal of approval by chairman John Elkann, who says the company has "full confidence" in the Frenchman.

Martin Brundle has caught up with McLaren boss Zak Brown on his grid walk. Martin asks if he thinks the team can pull off a win today. "I think we can, it's not going to be easy," says Brown, then adds he thinks McLaren have the pace to take the fight to Max Verstappen. "Just get through Turn One and let the race come to us a little bit," is the advice to his drivers.

One of the main talking points this week has been the "repercussions" Lando Norris would face for the first-lap contact with Oscar Piastri in Singapore. Can Brown give us any more insight into what they are? "We're just totally focused on trying to win today," comes the reply.

National anthem time, sung by Mateo Lopez. Excellent job young man!

Jennie Gow
F1 pit-lane reporter in Austin

Note the wind has changed direction. Before, I looked up to the hill at the first turn, with masses of people on the right-hand side, and the flag was facing the other way. Now If I look up today, it is a 180 degree turn and the flag is pointing towards the grandstand and away from the first turn and that is going to have a big impact on the race potentially today.

The forecast for today's race is another hot one - this is the second grand prix in a row that's been given a heat hazard warning - with fine, dry conditions and temperatures a high of 29C.

However, watching people walk into the paddock earlier and the breezy conditions were quite strong - a few cowboy hats were close to being blown off. Max Verstappen and Lando Norris both mentioned the change in wind direction during qualifying on Saturday.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Austin

Image source, Getty Images

On Saturday morning at the United States Grand Prix, McLaren Formula 1 boss Zak Brown said he expected the climax to the world championship fight this year to be "brutal".

Brown's words were proved right within a couple of hours of being uttered - but this was surely not what he would have been envisaging when he said them.

Max Verstappen's sprint win coupled with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri's crash out gained the Dutchman eight points on both McLaren drivers, and the four-time world champion later rubbed salt into his rivals' wounds with an imperious pole position for the grand prix.

"This Max guy," Brown said in an interview with BBC Sport, "he's relentless.

"So I'm more focused on making sure he doesn't get himself any more in the game than he already is, because our goal is to finish one-two in the drivers' championship, give our guys equal opportunity to decide who's first, who's second. What we really don't want is that Max guy getting in the middle of our fun."

BBC Sounds

Jennie Gow, Harry Benjamin, Andrew Benson and 1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill are ready to take us through the action tonight, so click the 'listen live' tab at the top of the page to tune in.

If you're out and about tonight, you can also take 5 Live’s commentary with you and listen on the go with the BBC Sounds app.

Or, if you want to listen via your smart speaker, simply ask your device to "Play 5 Live".

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Austin

Image source, Getty Images

Oscar Piastri made a better start than Lando Norris and initially moved to attack his team-mate on the outside as they approached the first corner with its wide, uphill entry.

The Australian then went for the inside in the hope of getting the cutback on Norris, but in doing so his left rear wheel caught the right front of Nico Hulkenberg's car.

That launched Piastri into the air and as he bounced back on to the track, he collected Norris. The Briton was out on the spot while Piastri limped on for a few corners further before pulling off.

Image source, Getty Images

The gap Lando Norris needs to close on title rival Oscar Piastri is 22 points, which is less than a race win. But both he and his team-mate also have one eye on Max Verstappen, who is creeping up on the two McLaren drivers and is now just 33 points away from Norris with six races and two sprint events remaining.

This could a big day for Norris' title ambitions, as he's starting four places higher than Piastri on the grid, so he's 1-0 up already. But he did flag during the post-qualifying interviews that Saturday was bit more of a struggle compared to Friday's running, which is understandable, given the sprint race repair job.

One thing Norris is looking forward to today, though, is racing Verstappen again. "We've had some good ones in the past," he said, which includes Austin last year, when the title battle between the pair erupted in controversy after Norris was penalised for passing Verstappen for third place off the track.