Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took pole position in a tight qualifying session in the United States Grand Prix with Max Verstappen down in sixth.
Leclerc beat McLaren’s Lando Norris by 0.130 seconds with Lewis Hamilton just 0.009secs further back in third.
Verstappen went fastest with his final run, despite a mistake at the first corner, but had his lap deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 19.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Mercedes’ George Russell were fourth and fifth.
Leclerc prevailed at the end of a dramatic and tense session with a highly impressive performance for Ferrari’s third grand prix pole of the year, after his own in Azerbaijan and Carlos Sainz on his way too victory in Singapore.
Leclerc also took pole for the sprint races in Belgium and Baku.
Leclerc was fastest in the second session and again on both runs in the final top 10 shoot-out to cap a strong day and underline his return to form since Ferrari introduced a new floor in Japan two races ago.
He improved by just over 0.1secs on his final run to put the pressure on his pursuers.
Leclerc said: “I felt good straight away from the first laps in practice and then the key was to put the laps together in qualifying. It is a surprise for us, we definitely did not expect to be fighting for pole position.”
Norris felt he had perhaps missed out on pole position.
“I’m happy,” he said. “It’s been a good day. Probably not expected. A good bonus for the whole team.
“There was enough in it to get pole. I know Charles said he made a few mistakes but so did I.”
Hamilton’s performance came after a major upgrade on the Mercedes, which has a new floor on it this weekend.
The seven-time champion is always strong at the Circuit of the Americas outside Austin in Texas and was in the fight throughout.
“This is right up there with Silverstone,” he said. “It really is a legendary layout, every driver loves it.”
What happened to Verstappen?
Verstappen was in the battle for pole throughout but it all fell apart for him in the final session.
His first lap was on course to go fastest until the final sector, when he felt he was impeded by team-mate Sergio Perez at the final corner.
Verstappen complained bitterly about it over the radio to his team, swearing, but in truth it looked like Perez was too far ahead to have cost him the 0.252secs by which Leclerc was faster on the first runs.
Hamilton was second fastest after the first laps, just 0.056secs off Leclerc.
Verstappen’s second lap was measured and he was not fastest of all in either the first or second sectors, and then he ran ever so slightly wide at Turn 19.
His lap put him to the top, beating Leclerc by just 0.005secs but his transgression at the penultimate corner cost him dearly and he slipped back to sixth.
He will still be favourite to win from there, so strong is the Red Bull in the race.
Behind him, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon took seventh and eighth in the Alpine, ahead of the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
Outside the top 10, the big shock was the performance of the Aston Martins.
The team have a significant upgrade on the car but Fernando Alonso was out at the end of the first session for the first time all year and will line up only 17th.
Team-mate Lance Stroll was behind him as usual in 19th.