The Sprint Shootout pole position at the US Grand Prix in Circuit of The Americas turned into a nail-biting battle among the top Formula 1 drivers, with just 0.101 seconds separating the top four contenders in the final runs of SQ3.
Qatar Sprint winner Oscar Piastri clinched the fifth spot on the grid in a fiercely contested and shortened qualifying session featuring a mix of constructors in the hunt for pole position.
Following Charles Leclerc’s pole position in the standard qualifying session on Friday, the shortened version of qualifying promised to bring new challenges. Cooler track conditions and the mandatory use of medium tires in SQ1 and SQ2 added extra variables for the drivers in the Sprint Shootout.