2025 F1 United States GP Qualifying - As it happened

There has long been debate about the decision to introduce Sprint Races.

Initially it served to arrange the grid for Sunday's main race with a few bonus points for the best performers, but it has since evolved into its own little side-quest for F1.

True, the points on offer are fairly limited given the amount of effort (qualifying and racing) that goes into it, more so considering it has zero impact on Sunday's race anymore.

For the most part drivers have taken it fairly easy through fear of damaging their cars, but as this Sprint showed, sometimes it can't be helped.

Nineteen laps seemed to go very quickly, but it's a welcome filler over a race weekend - it's a shame that it's only at six events in the year

Were they the culprits or the victims in that Turn 1 pile-up?

It's easy to forget Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso lost out on potentially crucial results apiece amid the McLaren furore and while Norris and Piastri can be confident of being similarly placed for Sunday's main race, there is less of a guarantee the other two involved in that pile-up will be quite so favourably placed.

Fittingly, both shifted down a place in the standings thanks to Carlos Sainz's run to third place, though it is mighty close between ninth (Isack Hadjar) down to 15th (Esteban Ocon), just 11 points in it.

...does the nature of his performance give some hope for McLaren?

Indeed, while there was no critiquing that nailed-on getaway, his pace in the initial laps after the safety car would have likely left him vulnerable to the McLaren duo had they been there.

Verstappen complained of the rear end, but complaints from the Dutchman - even when he is winning - isn't unusual.

Still, pole on Friday means he knows there is at least a good qualifying lap in the Red Bull, and as today shows, being on pole is probably the safest place to be in Texas

Some differing opinion on the finer details of that Turn 1 incidents from the pundits on Sky Sports F1.

For the most part the words 'unfortunate', 'nature of the corner' and 'chain reaction' play down the blame game.

However, there is some conjecture that Piastri could have been more aware of the placement of his car when trying to cut back on the inside of Norris, particularly around a corner that is so wide on the way in and so tight on the apex.

Wonder if Zak Brown wants to revise his admittedly heat of the moment comment of 'amateur-hour' when describing Hulkenberg and Alonso's driving? 

We've had Sprint Races before but never with so much drama and destruction than today's Austin showpiece.

It leaves several drivers and teams in the unfamiliar position of having to  reset over just a couple hours before going out on track again to qualify for Sunday's main event, rather than simply catching the first flight home at the earliest opportunity.

In a season that has simmered with mind games between Piastri, Norris and Verstappen as their title fight evolves, this will be a good test of mental fortitude for the McLaren boys in particular

We are just an hour away from the start of qualifying at the United States Grand Prix.

Can Max Verstappen follow up his sprint pole and victory in Austin by taking pole for Sunday's Grand Prix and apply more pressure on the two McLaren drivers, who crashed out of the shorter race. 

McLaren were quick to pin the blame on their rivals, however Sky Sports F1 pundit Danica Patrick believes Piastri should shoulder some responsibility.

"We were watching this at speed and it both looked like they slowed down so much and Oscar was being really careful,” the former IndyCar and NASCAR driver said.

"This is what can happen sometimes if you are trying to stay away from each other so much and doing something outside of your norm of possibly racing around the outside and going at it that way.

"Inside the cockpit, it's such a different view from what we see but everyone is racing into the first corner with as much speed as possible and he slowed up any extra.

"It was avoidable. He could have fallen in line behind Lando and carried on. Instead, he got invited into that gap. It was a bad judgement call.”

McLaren have hit out at “amateur-hour driving” from their F1 rivals after Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were taken out of the United States Grand Prix sprint race.

"That was terrible. Neither of our drivers to blame there," McLaren Racing CEO Brown told Sky Sports F1.

"That's some amateur-hour driving by some drivers up there at the front, [they] wacked out two guys.

"I want to see the replay again but clearly Nico Hulkenberg drove into Oscar and he had no business being where he was, he went into his left-rear tyre." 

Norris said there was "not a lot I could have done" to avoid the incident, while Piastri described it as “not a great way to start the day”.

The Sprint Race is done and now it's a quick reset to turn attention to qualifying at 22.00 UK

All eyes on McLaren to see if it can bounce back from an awful start to the day.

At least Zak Brown can perhaps breathe a sigh of relief that it was broadly just an unfortunate chain reaction rather than the boiling over of any feud.

A long - very long - cheer from the crowd (with plenty of screams from the female contingent) for Carlos Sainz for his run to third place

He doesn't believe he is doing anything differently to the start of the season, despite a real upturn in results during the second half of the year

"Nothing. We are just getting a little more lucky and things stopped happening for us. Things are running a lot smoother - I'm doing the same thing as the first half of the season, but things are now clicking"

Second top three finish of the season for Sainz and Williams

"I knew you don't get many opportunities with Max, so I took my chance. I'm glad I gave it a go, P2 is better than expected."

"Took a few laps after the safety car to have decent pace, we need to work out what is going on there. We won the Sprint though, that's most important. We need to be better in race trim.

"We'll have a look (at the rear) and then hopefully it will stick better tomorrow"

A great outcome for Yuki Tsunoda, who finishes seventh for two points - some 11 places higher than he qualified.

His result is even more remarkable considering he ran right over Hulkenberg's front-wing in the Turn 1 chaos, only shaking it free further around the lap.

Your point scorers

1- Max Verstappen

2- George Russell

3- Carlos Sainz

4- Lewis Hamilton

5- Charles Leclerc

6- Alex Albon

7- Yuki Tsunoda

8- Kimi Antonelli

George Russell and Carlos Sainz bolster their points tallies in a fine second and third.

It's a significant result for Sainz too - those six points move him from 12th to 10th in the overall standings ahead of Hulkenberg and Alonso, while he is just a point adrift of ninth place Hadjar too.

A disastrous race for McLaren, BUT it could have been worse - after all, it's only an 8 point swing in Verstappen's favour.

So Piastri still leads Norris by 22 points, but Verstappen is now 55 points adrift of the Aussie

The safety car stays out for the final lap, so this is how we'll finish (albeit with Bearman copping a 10 second penalty)

Stewards have spoken and Oliver Bearman has a 10 second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage in his battle with Antonelli.

Harsh decision given the current safety car conditions because a post-race penalty will leave him plum last - a shame given the eight positions he'd gained on his grid slot

Ocon's car has been retrieved and this is a long lap... so could we go back racing on lap 19 of 19? 

It's going to be a busy few hours for the guys and girls down at McLaren and Aston Martin as they battle to repair all of their cars in time for qualifying after a bruising Sprint Race 

The safety car is out after Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll come together at Turn 1

Stroll comes from a (very) long way back and then locks up, sending him tobogganing into the Haas

Ocon's car is stranded right on the exit of Turn 1 with three wheels on his wagon. Stroll has stopped further around the lap, completing as double DNF for Aston Martin

With three laps to go and safety car out, this could be the end of the race

Kimi Antonelli is putting significant pressure on Oliver Bearman for the eighth and final point.

Some dogged defence from Bearman to repel Antonelli's dive into Turn 16, but might be some question marks over whether he did so while off track.

Stewards will be expecting a call from Mercedes no doubt

Max Verstappen has hitched up his overalls and is getting on with it after that scare from Russell earlier - the defending champion is now 2.2secs up the road on the Mercedes