FACTS AND STATS: Verstappen moves ahead of Senna as he grabs 47th pole with Red Bull

Max Verstappen made it two from two as he backed up his Sprint pole with pole for the Grand Prix in Austin. The Dutchman beat the field by an impressive margin too, as Lando Norris managed to grab P2 on the grid. But Championship leader Oscar Piastri was only sixth, leaving him with it all to do in the race. Here are the best facts and stats from Qualifying at the Circuit of The Americas…

• Verstappen’s 47th pole for Red Bull surpassed Ayrton Senna’s 46 poles for McLaren, meaning the Dutchman is now just behind Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari tally of 58 and Lewis Hamilton’s 78 for Mercedes in the most poles for any driver-team combination.
• The Red Bull man grabbed his seventh pole of the season, two more than any other driver. It was his second Grand Prix pole in Austin, and Red Bull’s 50th pole since their association with Honda began back in 2019.
• Verstappen has won 35 of his previous 46 starts from pole. But the pole-sitter has not finished on the podium here in the last three Grands Prix.

• Norris is second, to make the front row identical to that from the Sprint. The driver starting second has led Lap 1 in five of the last seven races here.
• Charles Leclerc was third, his highest start since taking pole in Hungary.
• George Russell was fourth, tying his career-best start in Austin.
• His former team mate Lewis Hamilton was fifth, his 12th top-five start in 13 visits to this track.
• Piastri grabbed sixth, having never started in the top four at the Circuit of The Americas.
• The Australian has qualified outside the top three twice in the last three races.

• Kimi Antonelli was seventh, and has now been out-qualified by Russell 17-2 this season.
• Ollie Bearman tied Haas’ best-ever start in Austin with eighth on the grid.
• Carlos Sainz was P9, for his sixth consecutive Q3 appearance in Austin.
• Fernando Alonso was P10, for his 10th Q3 appearance of the season.
• Having qualified fourth for the Sprint, Nico Hulkenberg could only manage P11 for the Grand Prix. It is the third time he has qualified 11th, and the German has yet to start in the top 10 for a Grand Prix this season.
• Liam Lawson was 12th, meaning Racing Bulls missed out on Q3 for just the second time in the last seven race weekends, the other being Monza.
• Yuki Tsunoda will start from 13th for the second straight race.

• Pierre Gasly out-qualified his team mate for the first time in four Grands Prix.
• Franco Colapinto’s P15 is his highest start since Hungary, five races ago.
• Gabriel Bortoleto suffered back-to-back Q1 eliminations as he tumbled out in P16.
• Esteban Ocon exited in both SQ1 and Q1 in Austin, as he found himself down in P17.
• Lance Stroll has the most Q1 eliminations of any driver with 13 so far.
• Alex Albon is out in Q1 for the third consecutive year in Austin.
• Isack Hadjar crashed out at the start of Q1, for his second elimination this season in the first part of Qualifying.