2026 F1 Round 18, United States GP qualifying: Antonelli on pole, Red Bull second and third

Qualifying for the 2026 F1 United States Grand Prix, round 18, concluded at the Circuit of the Americas on October 24, local time. Kimi Antonelli took his seventh pole of the season with 1:34.035 on his first run in the final phase. Verstappen was second, 0.179 seconds behind, with Hadjar third. Just 0.036 seconds separated the Red Bulls, and Leclerc was a further 0.017 seconds back in fourth.

First runs establish the advantage as the final attempts leave pole unchanged

F1's official report showed that Antonelli established the decisive advantage on his first Q3 flying lap, then abandoned his second attempt. None of his rivals improved enough in the closing stages to take pole. It was his first pole since Belgium in July. Hamilton was fifth with 1:34.311, and Russell sixth.

Qualifying eliminates drivers over three stages, with the final Q3 phase deciding the top ten. Piastri was seventh; teammate Norris had his final flying lap deleted for exceeding track limits and was left eighth on his earlier 1:35.049. Lindblad and Lawson took ninth and tenth, with Lawson recording no valid Q3 time.

Gasly misses out by 0.022 seconds as penalties also affect the lower order

Gasly's Q2 time of 1:35.080 was just 0.022 seconds slower than advancing Lawson, leaving him eleventh. Audi's Hülkenberg and Bortoleto followed in twelfth and thirteenth, ahead of Colapinto, Alonso and Bearman in fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth. Bearman's team's post-session report confirmed that his faster final lap had also been deleted for track limits.

Ocon and Stroll missed Q2 in seventeenth and eighteenth. Williams' Sainz and Albon were nineteenth and twentieth, with Pérez ahead of Bottas in the two Cadillacs. The table below preserves qualifying results. F1's report also listed grid penalties involving Lindblad, Colapinto and Bortoleto, so the starting order still needed to account for those penalties and cannot be read directly from these positions.

The top three discuss gusts and car feel

At the FIA post-session press conference, Antonelli said changing gusts in Q3 made the car's balance unpredictable across different corners. He nevertheless completed each phase cleanly without putting himself under pressure through track-limit infringements. He also emphasized Red Bull's strong pace and the need to retain the lead at the race start.

Verstappen said the car had felt good in Q1 and Q2 but lacked his desired grip in Q3. He felt gusts had affected the final run, although the first had also fallen short of expectations. Hadjar said repeated setup experiments over the weekend had finally made the car suit him better in qualifying.

Ferrari led final practice, but qualifying produced a Mercedes pole and Red Bulls in second and third. Only 0.232 seconds covered the leading four cars in Q3, while 0.022 seconds decided access to that final phase. Both the speed of a completed lap and keeping it valid determined the final order.

Qualifying results

“—” indicates no valid time in that phase or no participation. Lap totals are the sums of the phase totals on the FIA timing sheets. This table follows the provisional qualifying classification in FIA document No. 39, rather than the race starting grid after penalties.