Max Verstappen will start the US Grand Prix on pole position after emerging fastest during a thrilling qualifying session at the Circuit of the Americas on Saturday.

The Dutchman and his Red Bull team put any concerns they may have had about Mercedes being the fastest in Austin on Friday to bed on Saturday, with him set to lead the pack away on Sunday ahead of title rival Lewis Hamilton.

With rain starting to spit down, the final stages of the session could well have been a damp squib but, instead, dry enough conditions held out for the drivers to get their all-important final runs in, and it was Verstappen who was quickest of all.

Earlier on, team-mate Sergio Perez had actually gone quickest of all, underlining his recent return to form, but Verstappen and Hamilton managed to produce quicker times in the closing stages to secure a front-row lockout between the two title rivals.

It promises to be an exciting opening to the Grand Prix, then, ahead of that run up the hill to turn one in Austin, with Perez joined by Charles Leclerc on the second row after Valtteri Bottas saw his fourth-place become ninth after an engine change and penalty.