Verstappen claims Austin sprint pole post RB Norris pop

Lando Norris risks losing ground to Max Verstappen in his bid to be crowned Formula One world champion after seeing his rival take pole position for Saturday's sprint race in the United States.

Norris, who trails Verstappen by 52 points heading into the concluding six rounds of the campaign, will line up three places behind the Dutchman for the 19-lap dash after he qualified a disappointing fourth at Austin's Circuit of the Americas.

Verstappen has not won since the Spanish Grand Prix, nearly four months ago, but he pulled out an impressive lap in the closing seconds to beat Mercedes' George Russell to top spot by just 0.012 seconds.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc will line up from third, one place ahead of Norris, with record five-time winner on Texas soil Lewis Hamilton seventh.

Norris knows he can ill-afford to allow Verstappen to increase his title lead, but the British driver will have his work cut out to prevent the Red Bull man doing just that after he finished 0.250 seconds adrift.

The top eight are awarded points in the sprint race which takes place ahead of a second qualifying session to determine the starting order for Sunday's main event.

"The whole day the car has been working well," said Verstappen.

"I'm happy to be first, it's been a while, so I am happy with today.

"We will do the best we can in the sprint, but we also know the most points are available on Sunday, so that's where we really want to do well."

To land his first title, Norris will need to rely on help from Oscar Piastri in the other McLaren, but the Australian was a surprise faller at the first hurdle here and will start only 16th.

Piastri thought he had done enough to haul his McLaren into Q2, only to see his best effort chalked off for exceeding track limits after he ran wide at the penultimate corner.

Earlier in the day, McLaren boss Zak Brown said claims from Red Bull's Helmut Marko that Norris is not mentally strong enough to dethrone Verstappen was "inappropriate" and in "poor taste".

Norris, 24, has opened up in the past about his mental health struggles, particularly in the formative years of his Formula One career.

"I read Helmut's comments, which I felt were disappointing but not surprising," said Brown.

"Lando has been an ambassador for mental health. It is a serious issue that he has brought to the forefront and to make it OK to talk about. To choose to poke at that situation is pretty inappropriate and it sets us back 10 or 20 years.

"It is all fun and games as to how some people go racing and the tactics they use but I thought that one was in pretty poor taste."

Norris has taken 26 points out of Verstappen in the last four races, which included victory at the last round in Singapore a month ago.

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