Max Verstappen put forward a thrilling Sprint Qualifying ahead of the US Grand Prix, leaving the McLaren duo, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, behind.
The Dutch driver, who has a slim chance of winning the championship, is still 63 points behind race leader Piastri with now six races remaining.
“It's been a nice qualifying, throughout all the segments it was quite close,” Verstappen told Sky Sports F1 afterward.
He added, "It was just about trying to put it all together. I still expect it to be a tough battle tomorrow in the sprint but that's exactly what we want to see, right?"
Meanwhile, Lando Norris, who will be taking P2 for the Sprint, shared that he was "not surprised" to miss out on pole during the Qualifying; however, he remained hopeful to get "back ahead" for the next race.
Norris had displayed good pace throughout Friday at the Circuit of The Americas, the Briton having topped the timesheets during the sole practice hour before leading the way in SQ1 and SQ2.
However, he was beaten by Verstappen in the final moments of SQ3, with the Dutchman's effort of 1m 32.143s putting him 0.071s clear of Norris.
His teammate Oscar Piastri was also unable to beat Verstappen, with the Australian claiming P3 with a lap time three-tenths off that set by Norris.
Piastri is set to line up behind Verstappen and Norris for Saturday's Sprint.
