Verstappen cautious of ‘tough’ McLaren challenge in United States GP Sprint

Max Verstappen has warned of the “tough” threat he faces in Saturday’s Sprint from McLaren after securing Sprint pole at the United States Grand Prix.

Lando Norris had set the pace in the weekend's sole practice and in the first two phases of Sprint Qualifying, before Verstappen ended the session with a table-topping effort to topple the McLaren driver by 0.071s.

The result continues the Red Bull man's impeccable form in the Sprint in Austin, having claimed his third Sprint pole at the Circuit of The Americas.

“It’s been a nice qualifying,” said the Red Bull driver after hopping out of the cockpit. “Throughout all of the segments, we were quite close. It was just about putting it all together at the end, when it matters most, which is not easy because you go to the soft compound with no reference.

“It worked out well. I still expect it to be a tough battle tomorrow with the Sprint, but that is exactly what we want to see, right? So yeah, I’m excited for tomorrow and happy with today.”

Verstappen has steadily closed in on Norris and championship leader Oscar Piastri, who will start from third, in recent weeks, and arrived in Austin just 63 points off the top spot, having been 104 points back leaving Zandvoort in August.

Asked how much of a threat he expects the McLaren pairing to be in the Sprint, he added: “A big one. They are super-fast. We know that normally in the race, they step it up a little bit, so it will be tough.”

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the four-tme World Champion claimed his latest Sprint pole, Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies was quick to praise Verstappen for finding the small margins needed to overcome McLaren.

“It was an amazing job from the team and from Max,” he said. “We were a touch behind McLaren in Q1, a touch behind McLaren in Q2 – a tenth, a tenth and a half. We knew it was always going to be touch and go.

“But then, Lando had put a very good lap in that was very difficult to match, and Max was line on line with Lando for most of the lap. But really, in the last corners, he sent the car in and got the smallest gap we needed to get the pole.”