F1: Verstappen beats Hamilton to US Grand Prix pole

Red Bull's Max Verstappen will be starting this Sunday's US Grand Prix from pole position. However, he has championship rival Lewis Hamilton right beside him on the front row. The second Red Bull of Sergio Perez is right behind in third, which puts him in a great position to help his teammate. Meanwhile, Hamilton will lose out on the support of Valtteri Bottas, who qualified fourth in the second Mercedes but will start from 9th thanks to an engine change grid penalty.

It was a very tight qualifying, with the lead drivers switching positions throughout the session. In the end, championship leader Verstappen eclipsed the defending world champion by a mere 0.209 seconds.

The best of the rest is Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who is followed closely by teammate Carlos Sainz. The Scuderia have been getting stronger in qualifying, and they will be hoping that their race pace will be able to keep the McLarens behind. Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris qualified just behind the scarlet cars, and their track record this season has shown that the papaya cars can keep the pace on Sunday afternoons a bit better than the Ferraris.

The Circuit of the Americas was believed to be a track that favours the Mercedes cars, but both Perez and Verstappen have been edging out Hamilton and Bottas for most of the weekend, but only just.

The Red Bulls have a very slight advantage, but not enough to indicate that they can dominate the race where and when it really counts. Either way, the crowd at COTA were treated to an exciting weekend so far, including the intense practice sessions where Verstappen and Hamilton were already seen racing.

It was slightly surprising to see the Red Bulls performing really well, but it makes the remaining six races even more unpredictable and exciting. The championship lead has already switched hands between Verstappen and Hamilton and back again, with the Dutchman now holding on to a very narrow six-point lead.

That kind of margin is almost negligible, with one bad result easily able to turn the tide. This is the most hotly contested F1 Driver's Championship in a very long time, and fans will have a lot of action to look forward to on Sunday and for the home stretch of the 2021 season.