Max Verstappen pinpoints key mistake which cost him United States GP pole

Max Verstappen says a mistake on his first lap of Q3 ultimately cost him pole position at the F1 United States Grand Prix.

Championship leader Verstappen was beaten to pole at Austin by title rival Lando Norris, who produced a superb lap in his McLaren to pip the Red Bull driver by 0.031 seconds on their first flying laps in Q3.

Verstappen appeared to be on course to beat Norris during the final runs but a crash for Mercedes driver George Russell brought qualifying to a premature end and prevented any improvements.

The Dutchman says he lost “quite a bit of lap time” when he had to lift at Turn 19 after missing the apex of the corner on his opening effort.

“I was a good amount up but already on my first lap in Q3 I missed Turn 19,” Verstappen explained. “I don’t know what happened there.

“Just turned in, probably a bit late, tried to carry a bit more speed. But then of course when you are late you are really wide so I had to downshift one more time.

“I lost quite a bit of lap time there, which would have been enough for pole. So I knew that the second lap, there was time to find for free but I never really got to that corner.

“But that happens. Qualifying is not always in your control.”

Verstappen, who extended his championship lead to 54 points over Norris by winning the COTA sprint race earlier on Saturday, added: “In general for us this weekend so far has been more positive.

“We could at least fight for pole and that has been a while. I felt quite decent today. Made a few changes on the car and hopefully that will help again for the race. Then hopefully we can try and do the same.”

While he ended his streak without a race victory, Verstappen has not taken the chequered flag on a Sunday since the Spanish Grand Prix in June.

But Red Bull have enjoyed a more competitive showing so far this weekend in Austin after debuting a new upgrade package.

Asked what improvements Red Bull have made to their RB20 car since the last race in Singapore, Verstappen replied: “We made the car more stable so you can attack corners better, and that also helps the tyres a little bit.

“So I think that has been the main improvement.”