Ten minutes to go in Q2.

Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli is the fastest car on track.

Carlos Sainz puts his car second fastest. The Spaniard finished P3 in the sprint race earlier today and was met with very loud cheers from the crowd.

Image source, Reuters

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

I'm just looking at Alex Albon and thinking, it was Carlos Sainz who had the bad luck at the start of the season, and it's funny how it swings - it seems to go to one person to the next within a garage.

That was a bit of bad luck but of course; I think a lot of people we're caught out because they stopped the first run, so the runs were under pressure, and they were probably overdoing it and not really properly prepared for the clean lap they needed.

Norris: "I'll probably need a steering wheel swap for the next run. The whole left grip has come off"

Engineer: "OK, we'll sort that out."

Right, time to get going again for Q2.

McLaren's Lando Norris has asked for a new steering wheel. Probably not the best time Lando, the clock is ticking.

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

This run of misfortune for McLaren is really starting to show. They're putting themselves in situations that they have to deliver - Lando here has done the right thing and carrying on but those tyres have had the best taken out of them. So he's got to get this right. It has to be a very neat lap to get himself through out of Q1.

Both McLaren drivers have made their way into Q2. 11th for Oscar Piastri and 12th for Lando Norris. A little more speed will be needed to clear their way to Q3.

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

I'm a little bit worried for Alex Albon's time here. I think it might get deleted for track limits.

Oh no, Alex Albon managed to get his car into the safe zone but had his lap time deleted.

He is bumped down and out of Q1.

The Mercedes of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli are now the top two cars.

Both drivers signed new contracts with the team for 2026.

But here comes Max Verstappen who pops his car back to the top spot.

Image source, Getty Images

Lando Norris goes for another fast lap but manages to put his car seventh fastest.

His team-mate Oscar Piastri is just a car ahead of him.

New tyres bolted on for a few drivers as they head back on to the track to put in fast laps. There's just two minutes left of Q1.

16. Franco Colapinto (Alpine)

17. Alex Albon (Williams)

18. Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)

19. Lando Norris (McLaren)

20. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)

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

Red Bull has had this problem of being able to run the car low; it makes the car very, very unstable. The car is nailed and they're running it very low, and when you hit the deck, it unloads the tyres, because it's running on the bottom of the chassis - the tyres are not being pressed on to the road by the weight of the downforce of the car and the car itself.

It can be very upsetting when you run that low but eventually, it wears a little bit of the plank off and gives you a little bit more clearance. But if it wears too much, then you'll be disqualified.

Eight minutes to go. Oscar Piastri (below) is whizzing down the circuit but can only manage to put his car fifth. It gets him comfortably out of the drop zone.

Meanwhile, his team-mate Lando Norris was on a fast lap but runs wide in the first sector and aborts the lap.

Image source, Reuters

Isack Hadjar is back in the Racing Bulls garage and watching on with the engineers.

Fernando Alonso went to Instagram to talk about his luck after getting knocked out of the sprint race. The two-time world champion has put his car fastest in Q1 so far.

The cars are slowly trickling their way out of the pit lane.

McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton sit tight in their garages, while Nico Hulkenberg is the first to get a fast lap in.

Ian Fergusson
BBC weather forecaster

It's a hot afternoon at COTA with air temperature 33.8C and the track 47.2C; humidity ~38%. Dry and fine.

Wind is mostly from the south-west, with gusts to 22mph in the past hour.

FIA official risk of rain is 0%.

Back to it then! Who will be in the drop zone and who will make it through to Q2? There's 14 minutes on the clock.

Jennie Gow
F1 pit-lane reporter in Austin

I was speaking to McLaren before I came down to the pit lane to find out exactly what damage has happened, but also how Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are feeling before qualifying.

The team were saying they very quickly transferred their focus to what had happened this morning, or earlier on today, in that sprint race, to qualifying, and were just trying to calm everything down and think, what happens now - don't live for the past, look forward and get qualifying nailed and do your best job there. I think they're both feeling positive. They know the pace is there.

The cars are lined up in the pit lane, eager to get going again. Everyone will want to get in decent lap times before the clock ticks down.