Antonelli Takes Pole for United States Grand Prix in Austin, Verstappen Second

Andrea Kimi Antonelli took pole position for the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas in Austin on Saturday, October 24, 2026, with a Q3 lap of 1:34.035 for Mercedes. The lap was set on his early run in the final segment, and no driver improved on the late runs. Max Verstappen qualified second for Red Bull in 1:34.214, 0.179 seconds behind, and his teammate Isack Hadjar was third in 1:34.250, the best qualifying result of his career.

Antonelli said after the session: "We got pole, so we'll try to win tomorrow. Max has been very quick, and did an incredible job in qualifying so it's not going to be easy. Hopefully we'll be leading into Turn 1 and we'll try to set the pace, even though it's going to be very tight. Very happy with qualifying today, Q3 was very tough with the wind, gusty, unpredictable, but happy to stick it on pole."

Ferrari fastest all weekend, then fourth and fifth

Charles Leclerc qualified fourth in 1:34.267 and Lewis Hamilton fifth in 1:34.311, both for Ferrari. Ferrari had topped every session of the weekend before qualifying, including final practice, where Hamilton was fastest in 1:34.893. The pace did not hold in Q3, and both Ferrari cars finished more than two tenths of a second behind pole.

George Russell was sixth for Mercedes in 1:34.476. Oscar Piastri was seventh for McLaren in 1:34.803, and Lando Norris was eighth in 1:35.049 after his final Q3 lap was deleted for exceeding track limits. Arvid Lindblad was ninth for Racing Bulls in 1:36.049, and Liam Lawson was tenth after setting no Q3 time.

Verstappen said his final segment did not come together: "Q3 was not good, Q1, Q2 was nice, but for whatever reason with both sets of tyres I just didn't have the balance. No mistakes, but just no grip and I had no grip."

Hadjar said third place was a recovery after a hard weekend: "I'm happy with P3, because it's been incredibly hard for me since the start of the weekend. Couldn't find the right balance, this morning I couldn't even set a lap on the softs because the car was that hard to drive."

How the segments ran

Norris was fastest in Q1 in 1:35.029, and Leclerc was fastest in Q2 in 1:34.198. Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll, Carlos Sainz, Alexander Albon, Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas were eliminated in Q1. Pierre Gasly, who missed Q3 by 0.022 seconds, Nico Hulkenberg, Gabriel Bortoleto, Franco Colapinto, Fernando Alonso and Oliver Bearman were eliminated in Q2.

Three drivers carry grid penalties for using more power unit components than the rules allow. Lindblad drops five places, Colapinto drops ten places, and Bortoleto drops 20 places and a further 60 places and starts from the back of the grid. The final starting order at the back follows the official FIA grid document.

The title can be settled on Sunday

This is Antonelli's seventh pole position of the season and his first since Belgium. He leads the drivers' standings with 340 points, 102 ahead of his teammate Russell on 238, with Hamilton on 229 and Verstappen on 221. Six rounds remain including Austin. A maximum of 150 points was available before Sunday's race and 125 will remain after it, so Antonelli can take his first title on Sunday if the results fall his way.

The race runs on Sunday, October 25, at 3:00 p.m. CDT. Circuit of the Americas is 3.427 miles long, has 20 turns, and the race is 56 laps.