Verstappen Snags Pole Position After Final Flying Lap, Hamilton in P2, Perez P3

Sergio Perez held the provisional pole position until Lewis Hamilton passed his time in a flying final lap, only for championship rival Verstappen to do the same.

In a flying final lap of qualifying, Max Verstappen snagged the pole position for the United States Grand Prix from Lewis Hamilton, who will be P2.

This will be the seventh time this season the two will lock out the front row. Verstappen leads the drivers' standings with 262.5 points while Hamilton trails at 256.5 points. 

"It was exciting out there," Verstappen said. "P1 and P3 for the team is a very strong performance. I hope to have a good start tomorrow for the best possible result"

It's @Max33Verstappen's ninth pole of 2021!#USGP 🇺🇸 #F1 pic.twitter.com/gp7RIlrOaf

— Formula 1 (@F1) October 23, 2021

For a period of time, it looked like Verstappen's teammate, Sergio Perez, was going to have the pole position. He crossed the line with 6:44 to go, tallying a time of 1:33.180, and was met with loud cheers from the Austin crowd. 

It would've been his first Formula One pole, per the Sky Sports broadcast. 

“Yeah, well we were really close on that final lap, I think we did a great job as a team," Perez said. "Tomorrow it’s a very long race. I think qualifying position is not too relevant. There will be a lot of degradation on these tires. Just looking forward to it."

Perez was the fastest in both practice two and three, driving a 1:34.701 that beat Carlos Sainz by a 10th of a second. Meanwhile, Verstappen and Hamilton, championship rivals, both had their fastest times deleted due to breaking track limit rules at the Circuit of the Americas. 

Formula 1 hasn't been at the track since 2019, and this weekend, they will compete in front of a sell-out crowd of 120,000.

Here is the qualifying classification for Sunday's United States Grand Prix. 

That was qualifying at its dramatic best!

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton lock out the front row for the seventh time this season#USGP 🇺🇸 #F1 pic.twitter.com/Mb7NjkmlKp

— Formula 1 (@F1) October 23, 2021