Summary

  • Max Verstappen takes pole for United States GP sprint race in Austin

  • Title rival Lando Norris fourth with Russell second and Leclerc third

  • Hamilton seventh with Perez and Piastri both failing to reach SQ3

  • Verstappen leads Norris by 52 points in drivers' championship

  • US GP first of six races to conclude 2024 season

Live Reporting

Lorraine McKenna

  1. Out in SQ1

    16. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

    17. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)

    18. Alex Albon (Williams)

    19. Valtteri Bottas (Sauber)

    20. Zhou Guanyu (Sauber)

  2. Oscar Piastri is out! The McLaren driver sees his lap time deleted, which drops him right into trouble.

  3. 'An identical lap time!'

    Harry Benjamin
    BBC F1 Commentator

    Albon the driver at risk. His team mate Franco Colapinto is in that elimination zone, down in 16th.

    They've actually set an identical lap time last time around, have Albon and Colapinto, but Albon set it first so he is 15th, Colapinto is 16th, but he's having another go, Colapinto.

  4. Woah! While Franco Colapinto drives to safety, his Williams team-mate Alex Albon suffers a mega spin at Turn 19. The Thai-British driver is able to save the car from any major danger and carry on, but those medium tyres are shot. "Sorry," Albon says on the team radio.

  5. With Sergio Perez's checkout of the drop zone hotel, Franco Colapinto now finds himself as an SQ1 elimination guest. Can the Argentine make it through to the next stage of sprint qualifying? He's up to 11th place after his latest flying lap.

  6. Marc Priestley
    Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

    Look at that!

    Less than a tenth separating the top three and that's three drivers from three different teams in three different cars with just less than a tenth between them.

    That is staggering and really kind of representative of what a great Formula 1 season we are having right now.

  7. The two Williams of Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto are hovering just above the relegation zone in P14 and P15. Max Verstappen finishes his latest attempt and goes to third on the timesheets. Sergio Perez has been thrown a lifeline, but the Mexican can only lift his Red Bull up to seventh.

  8. Danger zone

    16. Esteban Ocon

    17. Nico Hulkenberg

    18. Valtteri Bottas

    19. Zhou Guanyu

    20. Sergio Perez

  9. Yuki Tsunoda goes second on the board but is now pushed down to third by the McLaren of Lando Norris, who replaces Kevin Magnussen at the top.

    But here come the Ferraris. Carlos Sainz manages third but Charles Leclerc goes straight to the best seat in the house - which rapidly turns to P2 because of Lewis Hamilton's swift flyer in the Mercedes.

  10. The Red Bull crosses the line and goes top of the timesheets with a 1:34.698 followed by the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg. Max Verstappen loses his top spot, however, as Kevin Magnussen banks the best lap time - three-tenths better than the Dutchman.

  11. 10 minutes to go

    If you've never seen/heard a sprint qualifying session, hold onto your hats, because it goes very fast. The last of the cars are heading out of the pit lane just as Max Verstappen, who was first out, is preparing for a flyer.

  12. What is the sprint qualifying weather forecast?

    Texas weather

    Austin will be bone dry with warm temperatures for this shorter sprint qualifying session. The nearest pocket of rain looks to be in Utah, so definitely put your umbrellas away.

  13. Go! Go! Go!

    SQ1 is open for business - but you need your medium tyres for this session.

  14. Tune in

    BBC Sounds

    Jennie Gow, Harry Benjamin, former McLaren engineer Marc Priestley and F1 correspondent Andrew Benson are in position and ready to take us through sprint qualifying.

    You can find the team on Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and at the top of the page. Via your smart speaker, just ask BBC Sounds to play United States Grand Prix sprint qualifying.

  15. 'FIA are happy with it' - Horner

    Christian Horner walks past the Red Bull motorhomeGetty Images

    Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, talking to Sky Sports: "Every car has a tool that they can adjust the front of the bib, what we call the front of the floor being called the bib. Ours is located at the front of the footwell, it's been there for I think for over three years, you've got to have the pedals out, other panels out and pipework out to be able to get to it. It's like any other adjustment on the car, it would be easier to adjust the rear rollbar than it is to get to that component, it's all part of the packaging in the front end of the chassis."

    On why the FIA inspected the element post FP1: "Because I think there's been a bit of moaning from one of our rivals and it's the FIA's job to look into those things. It's on a list of the open source components so it's been publicly available for the last three years. The FIA are happy with it, I think just to satisfy some paranoia elsewhere in the paddock."

    On whether it's a non-story: "I feel it's, sometimes, to distract from perhaps what's going on in your house, that sometimes you try and light a fire somewhere else. It's part of Formula 1, I'm sure they'll be other stuff that comes up between now and Abu Dhabi."

  16. How many points are available on a sprint weekend?

    The perfect weekend in Austin, Interlagos or Qatar could hand either Max Verstappen or Lando Norris the upper-hand in the title race, thanks to the extra prizes on offer during the sprint weekends.

    There are eight points available for a sprint victory, 25 for a main race win, plus the extra point if you bank the fastest lap, making a total of 34 points up for grabs from three of the six grands prix remaining.

  17. What is the sprint race format?

    If you're new to the sprint format, or just need a little refresher before we dive in again, here is how the weekend works.

    Sprint qualifying on Friday sets the grid for the sprint race and has three sessions - like normal qualifying - with the slowest five cars eliminated at the end of the first two. These sessions last just 12, 10 and eight minutes, respectively.

    Tyres are mandatory in this qualifying, so drivers have to use the medium compound in SQ1 and SQ2, followed by the softs for the top-10 sprint shootout.

    This season, the sprint race takes place as the first track action on Saturday, leaving normal qualifying in its regular spot. The top eight finishers score points, from eight for first place down to one for eighth.

  18. Can Verstappen continue his sprint streak?

    Max VerstappenGetty Images

    Away from ride-height devices, could Austin's sprint weekend be the ideal place for Max Verstappen to rediscover his winning mojo?

    The Dutchman has won the first three sprint race this year, collecting the maximum eight points in China, Miami and at the Red Bull Ring in Austria in June.

    In fact, Verstappen is the undisputed King of the sprint with 10 wins under his belt since the format was introduced in 2021, including last year's 100km race at COTA.

  19. Red Bull boss Christian Horner is being interviewed by Sky Sports now, and says: "We have cameras watching the cars, we have scrutineers watching the cars. Our car has come under more scrutiny in the last three years than any other car in the pit lane. So we're totally comfortable."

  20. 'McLaren rear wing has passed every test' - Brown

    McLaren CEO Zak Brown was quizzed about McLaren's car compliance in the new conference earlier: "Our rear wing has passed every single test, we've made some small modifications as have some others, so that's a non-issue."

    "I think, on the floor, if, and I say 'if' because I don't know, it's used an inappropriate manner then it is definitely a performance advantage. If it's not, then there's no performance advantage whatsoever and I think that's what we just want to better understand."