AUSTIN:

An upbeat Lando Norris shrugged off his disappointment after being beaten to pole position by Max Verstappen in Friday's qualifying for Saturday's sprint race at the United States Grand Prix.

The 24-year-old Briton, who is bidding to beat his McLaren team-mate series leader Oscar Piastri to the drivers' title, had topped the times for McLaren during a close-fought session, but was outpaced in the final seconds by the four-time world champion in his Red Bull.

"It's all OK," he said. "It's not that unexpected and it has been difficult over the bumps in sector one... I would have loved to be on pole but Red Bull are just a little bit ahead of us.

"But I think our race pace will be a bit better so we have good hopes for the race."

Norris is 22 points behind Piastri, who qualified

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