As Lando Norris and Max Verstappen secure front row, F1 US GP dark horses aim for the win from the second row

As Lando Norris and Max Verstappen secured the front row for the F1 US GP, the Ferrari drivers aimed for the win from the second row. The qualifying session was curtailed and limited to just the first run after George Russell's Mercedes ended up in the barriers.

As a result, Norris secured pole position, less than a tenth faster than what Max Verstappen had been able to do on his first lap. The second row was secured by the Ferrari duo, with Carlos Sainz starting the race in P3 and Charles Leclerc doing so in P4.

While Max Verstappen in his Red Bull car has appeared to hold an edge over everyone in not only qualifying but overall pace, both Ferrari drivers have strong overall performances in the sprint and the long runs.

Looking forward to the race, Leclerc conceded that over a lap, Ferrari was giving up time in the first sector to Verstappen and Norris. The driver felt that Ferrari could potentially challenge for the win as the long-run performance was still competitive enough. He told the media, including Sportskeeda,

"Neither one of us was capable of going to fight with the top two, they were too fast, but that's also what we expected as a team. In the first sector in qualifying, we have a limitation in our car at the moment, and none of the setup options we thought of would cure that issue."

He added,

"But in the race, we have a lot less of that issue, and so that's why I'm a bit more optimistic. The belief is always to try and go and win, and I think that if we see a similar pace to [the sprint] we have chances to win. However, I expect the others to have made a step forward."

Max Verstappen and Lando Norris start the race on the front row

Lando Norris was lucky to secure pole position as everyone was forced to abort their second push lap. On the first lap, the driver nailed everything and secured the pole by less than a tenth from Verstappen. On the second lap, Lando had a slower first sector compared to his rival and looked destined to lose pole position.

It was at this time that Russell crashed, and hence yellow flags came out. As a result, every driver was forced to abort their laps and the pole went to the McLaren driver. Talking about his lap, Norris said:

“We’ve been on the back foot pretty much the whole weekend. We’ve not had the pace of the Ferraris or the Red Bulls so I had to do something, and today I did that. A cool lap and a nice way to start the race tomorrow.”

The start of the race would be very interesting, as there is certainly a potential for the two title contenders to battle it out for the lead.