2026 F1 United States GP | Qualifying results

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With Ferrari looking strong in FP3, qualifying for the 2026 F1 United States GP promised to be an exciting battle for pole positions. However, as practice also showed, track limits could be a thing at the Circuit of the Americas.

Q1: Alonso manages to reach Q2

One of the firsts out on track was Lance Stroll, looking to turn around his fortune after an abysmal Singapore GP weekend, which saw him retire from both the Sprint and the Grand Prix proper. First one to set a time was Valtteri Bottas, who was quickly bested by his team mate Sergio Pérez.

Everyone from ninth downwards, and Lando Norris, head out to determine who will get knocked out. Alex Albon improves, but cannot escape the knock-out zone. Colapinto goes tenth, before team mate Gasly goes 12^th. Up front Norris has improved to first.

Esteban Ocon fails to improve past 17th, knocking him out together with both Williams drivers, both Cadillac drivers and Stroll. This means Alonso made it to Q2.

Knocked-out in Q1

Ocon – 1:36.531
Stroll – 1:36.667
Sainz – 1:36.770
Albon – 1:36.967
Pérez – 1:37.433
Bottas – 1:37.523

Q2: Verstappen and Norris need only one run

The Ferrari duo is the first to head out in an attempt to reach Q3, and this time it is Hamilton in front of Leclerc after the first laps. Verstappen quickly goes to the top on a scrubbed set of tyres.

Despite a 60-place grid penalty, Gabriel Bortoleto slows down in order to help Hülkenberg. Unfortunately, he does not improve.

With one minute to go, Verstappen and Norris are still in their pit boxes, but the other front-runners are scrapping for the honours of the fastest time.

At the back, Gasly has a great final lap, but both Racing Bulls have an even better lap, bumping the Frenchman together with Hülkenberg. The other knocked-out drivers are Bearman, Bortoleto, Colapinto and Alonso. Bearman however sees his time deleted, dropping him to 16^th.

Knocked-out in Q2

Gasly – 1:35.080
Hülkenberg – 1:35.158
Bortoleto – 1:35.691
Colapinto – 1:35.722
Alonso – 1:35.818
Bearman – 1:36.031

Q3: Antonelli does it in the first run

After the early laps, Antonelli leads from Verstappen and Hadjar. The final runs kicks of with Russell again going first, followed by Antonelli. Both Racing Bulls stay in the box.

None of the frontrunners improve, meaning the pole goes to the championship leader. Behind them Hamilton and Norris do improve, dropping Russell to seventh. Luckily for him Norris’ time gets deleted.