Racing
League
Rugby
Cricket
Golf
Motorsport
Combat Sports
Football
Netball
Basketball
Other Sports
Sport Nation
Live sport on SN this weekendVerstappen on pole, Piastri's horror and Lawson in 12th
Scott Hunt • October 19th, 2025 2:00 pm
Max Verstappen celebrates after claiming pole position for Sunday's race | Photo: AP
Oscar Piastri has defended himself over a "racing incident" as his Formula One championship lead comes under increasing threat following his miserable day at the United States Grand Prix.
Four-time world champion Max Verstappen moved further into the title picture by winning Saturday's sprint race and then clinching a dominant pole position for Sunday's race.
The Dutchman charged to pole position in qualifying in Austin, Texas, by almost three tenths of a second from Norris as Piastri could manage only sixth fastest.
New Zealand's Liam Lawson navigated the first session of qualifying, but missed reaching Q3 by just over a tenth of second and will start from 12th on the grid.
Norris was no match for Verstappen but will be heartened to have Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton between him and title rival Piastri on the grid for the 56-lap race as he seeks to cut the 22-point gap in the standings.
Verstappen's victory in the sprint earlier in the day enabled him to draw within 55 points of Piastri - and 33 behind Norris - after the McLaren pair collided at turn one and were dumped out of the 19-lap dash.
The Dutchman, who has also finished ahead of the McLaren pair at each of the last three races, will likely need more McLaren chaos to fire himself fully into the title fight, but there are still 166 points to play for.
The build-up to the weekend has been dominated by the unspecified "consequences" imposed by McLaren on Norris after the team held him responsible for banging wheels with Piastri in Singapore a fortnight ago.
While Norris managed to scrap back into the front row for Sunday's start, Piastri struggled to find any pace in qualifying.
The Australian has just one podium finish in the last three races as his championship lead shrinks.
I didn't really make any mistakes, just didn't feel like I really got into a rhythm for the whole session, just struggled," said Piastri of his qualifying effort.
"We'll go and have a look at why, obviously. But, yeah, that was obviously a battle.
"Obviously, when you don't have the pace you want, it's never the nicest feeling. But there's a lot of opportunities tomorrow... So we'll see what we can do. The weekend is far from over."
- PA, additional reporting by Sport Nation.
