Verstappen, who was crowned a three-time world champion last time out in Qatar, crossed the line in the dying moments of Q3 at the Circuit of The Americas to post a 1m34.718s flying lap.
That handed him provisional pole over Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc by 0.005s, but the RB19 driver swiftly had his time deleted for running wide at the exit of Turn 19 to drop down to sixth place. As a result, Leclerc will lead the front row over McLaren racer Lando Norris.
