Andrea Kimi Antonelli beat Max Verstappen for pole position for the 2026 F1 United States Grand Prix, after topping qualifying at COTA in Austin, Texas on Saturday.

Practice at the Circuit of the Americas on Friday and Saturday had shown that Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton would be serious contenders to get their first pole of the 2026 season in Texas. The Scuderia duo led the way in all three warm-up stages, with Leclerc first during FP1 and FP2 before Hamilton topped the FP3 timesheets at the United States GP.

A few drivers headed into qualifying with an arm tied behind their backs, in contrast. Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad has a five-place grid penalty, Franco Colapinto of Alpine has a 10-place grid drop and Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto has a 20-place grid drop for new engine components.

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Only Lindblad would ultimately make it through to Q3 from the drivers with a grid penalty, as Audi sacrificed Bortoleto to try to help Nico Hulkenberg and Colapinto bowed out in Q2. Bortoleto agreed to play the team game given that he will start from the back of the grid.

No team games would help to dictate the outcome of Q3 at COTA, though, as Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes and McLaren all entered the final stage of qualifying believing that pole at the United States GP would possibly be on the cards for one of their drivers this Saturday.

Mercedes would show their hands first in Q3, as George Russell recorded the first lap time with a 1:34.476 – only to instantly be bettered by Andrea Kimi Antonelli, with his 1:34.035. Even Red Bull’s Max Verstappen failed to threaten Antonelli, as he settled for P2 by 0.179s.

Russell’s early time fell further down the order thanks to Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and Ferrari star Leclerc, as well. But McLaren failed to pose a threat at the start of Q3, as Oscar Piastri was 0.768s shy of Antonelli’s lap and Lando Norris was 1.014s away from the Italian’s time.

The Silver Arrows duo of Russell and Antonelli went early once more for the last flying laps during qualifying for the United States GP, as well. Both Mercedes drivers set new personal bests in sector one, as well, but Russell lost time in sector two as Antonelli produced a new overall best. And the lap continued to get away from Russell, but Antonelli did not improve.

Russell’s woe and Antonelli’s lap fading at the final post after a snap of oversteer in Turn 13 left the door open for Red Bull rival Verstappen to take pole position. But Verstappen could not beat Antonelli’s initial benchmark time, handing the Italian his first pole in nine rounds.

Verstappen produced a new overall best first sector split, but lost time in the second split like Russell had and also in the final sector. New personal best split times in the first two sectors were also not enough for Hadjar to improve his efforts, but he also survived in P3.

It looked like McLaren driver Norris would at least improve, as he shuffled into sixth with a 0.344s deficit to Antonelli’s pole time. But exceeding track limits at Turn 19 saw Norris lose his 1:34.379 and fall to P8, ahead of the Racing Bulls duo as Liam Lawson did not set a time.

Liam Lawson eliminates Pierre Gasly from Q2 by 0.022s at the United States GP

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc took the honour of leading the field out of the pit lane for the start of Q2 during qualifying for the United States GP. The Monegasque would thus also set the initial benchmark with a 1:35.026 lap of COTA, but his effort was immediately bettered.

Lewis Hamilton made it a Ferrari one-two to start Q2 with a 1:34.833, yet the Briton would also slip to P2 as Red Bull rival Max Verstappen immediately opened a 0.362s margin with a 1:34.471. Verstappen made 0.223s of his margin over Hamilton in sector one alone, as well as 0.144s in sector three, which helped McLaren’s Lando Norris to snatch P2 on a 1:34.539.

Verstappen even edged Norris by 0.068s despite using a set of used soft C4 compound tyres for his first Q2 run, which Hamilton also embraced for his first run. Norris and the Mercedes pair Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell used fresh tyres to start Q2 in P2, P3 and P4.

A mixture of new and used tyres also helped to see Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso set the slowest initial Q2 lap time with a 1:36.234, as Audi star Gabriel Bortoleto did not set a time.

New tyres only helped McLaren driver Oscar Piastri to sit in P10, though, and he only held a 0.097s margin over Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad in P11 at the mid-Q2 lull. Piastri even held a 0.858s deficit to Norris in P2, plus a 0.239s deficit to Audi ace Nico Hulkenberg in P8.

The state of play ensured that Piastri needed to burn yet another new set of soft C4 Pirelli tyres for his second Q2 run, and he was one of the first drivers to return to the track. Audi star Bortoleto also joined the party, but his role was only to offer Hulkenberg a tow on the back straight given that the Brazilian will start the United States GP at the back of the grid.

Bortoleto’s slipstream ultimately did not help Hulkenberg, though, as he lost too much lap time in the last sector. Mercedes ace Russell did not need a tow to fly through the first two sectors, in contrast, as new soft tyres helped the Briton post overall best split times – only for teammate Antonelli to beat his sector two split time by 0.111s and go on to snatch P1.

Russell briefly moved atop the leaderboard as Verstappen and Norris sat out the late runs, as the Briton improved to a 1:34.305 before Antonelli set a 1:34.278 and Leclerc penned a 1:34.198. Piastri was also finding time, but he would only improve to P6 with a 1:34.818.

Racing Bulls duo Lindblad and Liam Lawson also left it very late to climb into the top 10, as the pair pushed Alpine ace Pierre Gasly and Audi star Hulkenberg into the drop zone after the chequered flag. Lawson even finished Q2 just 0.022s clear of Gasly and 0.100s clear of Hulkenberg, while Haas driver Oliver Bearman dropped to P16 after exceeding track limits.

Lando Norris tops Q1 as Cadillac struggle during qualifying at COTA

Perfect conditions greeted the Formula 1 grid onto the Circuit of the Americas at the start of qualifying for the United States GP. Home hero Cadillac were the first team to hit the circuit with Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez, followed by Oliver Bearman with American rivals Haas.

Bottas would also post the first lap time during qualifying at COTA, as the Finn completed his first tour of the track in 1:38.853. Perez quickly pushed Bottas down the table on a 1:38.428, before Bearman offered the first competitive benchmark with a 1:37.254 in the Haas VF-26.

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc would soon also offer the first benchmark from a front-running team, as the Monegasque set a 1:35.200. Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari came home 0.155s shy of his teammate’s initial effort, which was still comfortably clear of the early times from the McLaren duo – although Oscar Piastri set his initial 1:36.507 on the medium C3 Pirelli tyres.

Mercedes pair George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli also decided to set their first times during Q1 on the medium tyres, which left them both behind Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Audi racers Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg in the early timesheets during qualifying.

Max Verstappen showed the speed in his RB22 early on, though, as the four-time champion slotted into second place behind Leclerc by 0.0015s. Isack Hadjar also started to find speed after a tricky time in practice, as he slotted into third place with a 0.086s deficit to Leclerc.

At the other end of the order in Q1, the fight to reach Q2 was beginning to develop between Lance Stroll, Carlos Sainz, Franco Colapinto, Esteban Ocon, Alex Albon, Perez and Bottas. The final spot in the timesheets also went to Pierre Gasly after becoming the first driver to lose a lap time for exceeding track limits, as he lost a 1:36.764 lap time for running wide at Turn 9.

Another bite at the cherry would not do Albon any favours, either, as his Williams refused to play ball with the London-born Thai’s efforts. Albon constantly had to fight with the steering wheel in his FW48 and bled lap time on his run to the finish line, and his issues extended to Williams’ decision to send him out early for the final runs as rival racers went on to improve.

Haas ace Ocon was one of those to improve their pace, yet even an improved middle sector was not enough to carry the Frenchman through to Q2 as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso survived in P16 by 0.291s. Ocon was also 1.502s off the overall pace in Q1, as McLaren ace Lando Norris improved his pace with a used set of soft C4 tyres to take P1 with a 1:35.029.

Full COTA qualifying results for the 2026 F1 United States Grand Prix