Motor racing-Verstappen takes pole for F1's Austin sprint race

Formula One F1 - United States Grand Prix - Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas, U.S. - October 21, 2023 Red Bull's Max Verstappen celebrates finishing the sprint shootout in first place with second placed Ferrari's Charles Leclerc REUTERS/Brian Snyder

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) -Red Bull's triple Formula One world champion Max Verstappen took pole position for the Saturday sprint at the U.S. Grand Prix with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc alongside on the front row.

The top three in the "shootout" qualifying for the 19 lap race were separated by just 0.069 of a second, with Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton third fastest.