Welcome to our coverage of the 2024 United States Grand Prix from Circuit of the Americas, just outside Austin. I've written this many times before, but for my money Cota is one of the best tracks on the calendar alongside Suzuka and Silverstone. I think that Spa-Francorchamps has been neutered by the modern machines, but this track really is a test for the drivers and often offers excellent overtaking opportunities.

What awaits us today? Well, the trend over the weekend was that Red Bull (or rather Max Verstappen) looked strong. In fact, it was arguably his strongest weekend since his last win in Spain in June this year. He took pole for the sprint race on Friday and secured it with a comfortable (if not exactly dominant) victory yesterday afternoon ahead of Carlos Sainz.

Verstappen's rival for the F1 title this year, Lando Norris, finished third in his McLaren. This increased Verstappen's lead to 54 points. Obviously it's not exactly a fatal blow, but it's obvious that Norris needs to take points away from Verstappen rather than lose more to him.

Luckily for Norris, he also had some luck in main qualifying later on Saturday. With the McLaren looking likely to be the third, if not fourth, fastest car at times this weekend, Norris achieved his best lap of the day with his first run in the third quarter. Verstappen almost managed to do the same, but a somewhat messy final sector saw him finish 0.031 seconds behind the McLaren.

The Dutchman was well on his way to beating Norris's time, although Norris was unlikely to improve, but then George Russell drove his Mercedes into the barriers, effectively ending the session and giving Norris his sixth pole the last eight rounds. That gives Norris a slight advantage over Verstappen, but even if he wins he'll have to hope the Red Bull man has a difficult afternoon.

Carlos Sainz was third for Ferrari ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc, while Piastri was fifth in the second McLaren. Sergio Perez fell back to 10th place.

It was another day to forget for Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton failed to make it out of Q3, while Russell will now start from the pitlane after his crash in Q3. The race starts at 8pm BST and we'll be here to follow all the build-up, live updates and reaction.