United States Grand Prix - Qualifying LIVE: Max Verstappen looks to take pole after already wrapping up World Drivers' Championship

We'll be back tomorrow bringing you live coverage of the Sprint race. See you then!

1. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

2. Lando Norris, McLaren

3. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

4. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

5. George Russell, Mercedes

6. Max Verstappen, Red Bull

7. Pierre Gasly, Alpine

8. Esteban Ocon, Alpine

9. Sergio Perez, Red Bull

10. Oscar Piastri, McLaren

11. Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri

12. Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo

13. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo

14. Kevin Magnussen, Haas

15. Daniel Ricciardo, AlphaTauri

16. Nico Hulkenberg, Haas

17. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin

18. Alex Albon, Williams

19. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin

20. Logan Sargeant, Williams

Norris just pipped Hamilton to P2. That's crucial, because there's never been a winner here at COTA that started from off the front row.

Verstappen's time gets deleted and the champion drops five spots as Leclerc takes the pole!

Verstappen's tires both went off before turn 19... time to see if the stewards will do the right thing

As of now, it belongs to Leclerc after he improves his time...

As of now, the running goes Leclerc, Hamilton, Verstappen

'Well done, Well f*** done there! What the f*** was that in the last corner?'

The Dutchman doesn't seem to happy that he got too close to his teammate - causing some turbulent air

Lewis was just five hundreths off Leclerc's time and beats Verstappen by over a tenth

There's a lot of time left, but for now, we have Verstappen sandwiched by the two Ferraris

Just 12 minutes away from determining who will be starting on the front row

'The pace was maybe not good enough to make Q2 and let's see tomorrow if we can make a good sprint because Sunday is heavily compromised now.

'We should go back and repeat the day completely starting from the morning... too many unknowns in terms of how to operate the new package and the new car.'

It's a double elimination for both Alpha Tauri and Alfa Romeo.

Daniel Ricciardo went slowest in this session - his first in almost two months.

Meanwhile, his teammate Yuki Tsunoda couldn't put up a time to send Perez out of P10 so his day is done.

The two Alfas will start next to each other with Zhou in P12 and Bottas in P13

Meanwhile, Sergio Perez only barely survives...

1. Leclerc

2. Verstappen

3. Hamilton

4. Sainz

5. Ocon

6. Norris

7. Gasly

8. Piastri

9. Russell

10. Perez

The final flying laps are coming in now...

Now Lewis Hamilton is the driver at risk...

Only Carlos Sainz has escaped the danger zone... it'll be shocking if Lando can't find his way out of P15 here...

The traffic in question was about 200 yards ahead of him, so as the McLaren goes off the track, he hits the limits and his time is deleted.

He's the only driver who has not yet set a lap

Drivers at risk: Ricciardo, Magnussen, Zhou, Sainz, Norris.

The time to beat is a 1:35.946 set by Valtteri Bottas

Because of course he does. 1:35.491.

Piastri leads with a 1:35.576, followed by Russell then Hamilton

Five more drivers will be eliminated in this session

Instead, those were caused by compressed air shooting out of the wheel guns

He's heard swearing on team radio - as he gets knocked out after once having the fastest lap

It's an awful result for Williams - which saw their American driver struggle with track limits and his setup.

But it's truly a nightmare for Aston Martin as both drivers are out.

As for Hulkenberg, he's been pipped to P15 by two-hundreths of a second by the returning Daniel Ricciardo.

Top Five:

1. Hamilton, 1:35.091

2. Norris, +0.019

3. Verstappen, +0.255

4. Sainz, +0.733

5. Tsunoda, +0.822

Final flying laps are going through now

At the current rate, both Williams will be out - as well as an Alfa, a Haas, and an AlphaTauri

Drivers at risk: Albon, Magnussen, Ricciardo, Zhou, Sargeant

Time to beat is a 1:36.915 set by Yuki Tsunoda, which Albon is just seven hundredths off of.

He just eeks a time out that's seven hundreths faster than Huklenberg: 1:36.158

Hulkenberg has gone two-tenths faster than Verstappen setting a 1:36.235

The Canadian was getting his tires changed and there were massive discharges of dust and smoke seen

No times have been set by any Mercedes, Williams, AlphaTauri or Haas machine just yet

He's 0.152 seconds ahead of Leclerc setting a 1:36.470

Lewis has won at this track many times in the past, let's see what he can do here

Perez is just 0.058 seconds behind the leader

The Monagasque beats out Norris by 0.018 seconds to take a temporary lead

1:36.640 for the man in the papaya machine. It's not likely to hold up for long.

The American brings his Williams back into the paddock before setting a time

Five drivers will be knocked out in this round, let's see who they are

The drivers are making their way to their paddocks to get this party started

Qualifying has been a bit of a mixed bag at COTA in the past - with pole not always a guarantee of victory

2022: Carlos Sainz, Ferrari (finished P20 after crash, won by Max Verstappen of Red Bull)

2021: Max Verstappen, Red Bull (finished P1)

2019: Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes (finished P1)

2018: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes (finished P3, won by Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari)

2017: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes (finished P1)

(Not held in 2020 due to Covid-19 pandemic)

The Florida native is taking part in his second of three grands prix held in his home country, but the season has been tough for him.

He's only made it to Q3 one time in his career - at Zandvoort - but he promptly crashed out of that session.

Now, after finishing practice in P11, he'll hope to make a jump up one spot to try and break into the top ten.

After spending half the season as a test driver, Ricciardo returned to the sport with a seat at AlphaTauri - only to break his hand at Zandvoort just three races into the season.

But following a long recovery process - and missing five races - the Australian is back behind the wheel once again.

He'll hope to impress the Texas crowd, which he has grown to love in recent years.

After rumors swirled that the Mexican could be exiting the sport altogether following this season, Checo laughed them off and remains committed to seeing out the rest of his contract with the Milton Keynes-based outfit.

Today's qualifying session will not be setting the grid for tomorrow's sprint race. Instead, this quali will set the grid for Sunday's full race.

Early Saturday afternoon, the 'Sprint Shootout' will determine the order for JUST the sprint race - which is held later the same day.

This is the only practice session that the drivers are getting all weekend and the results were as follows:

1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull: 1:35.912

2. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari: +0.156

3. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes: +0.281

4. Sergio Perez, Red Bull: +0.300

5. Kevin Magnussen, Haas: +0.560

6. George Russell, Mercedes: +0.562

7. Alex Albon, Williams: +0.580

8. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari: +0.621

9. Nico Hulkenberg, Haas: +0.790

10. Pierre Gasly, Alpine: +0.793

11. Logan Sargeant, Williams: +1.075

12. Esteban Ocon, Alpine: +1.154

13. Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri: +1.192

14. Daniel Ricciardo, AlphaTauri: +1.240

15. Lando Norris, McLaren: +1.344

16. Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo: +1.506

17. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo: +1.605

18. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin: +1.928

19. Oscar Piastri, McLaren: +2.508

20. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin: +4.028

The Dutchman has already wrapped up the World Drivers Championship and COTA is one of the tracks he's had some great success at.

Behind him by just one-and-a-half tenths is Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, followed by Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes at just under three-tenths.

Welcome to qualifying for the United States Grand Prix. We've got just about an hour until the proceedings begin at the Circuit of the Americas outside of Austin, Texas