Bottas takes Austin pole as title-chasing Hamilton suffers worst US qualifying result

Lewis Hamilton's hopes of clinching his sixth drivers' world championship with a stylish American triumph were rocked when his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas grabbed a surprise pole position at the United States Grand Prix.

Bottas, the only man who can delay Hamilton's celebrations, kept alive his own faint and unlikely statistical hopes, by producing a stunning lap that broke Hamilton's qualifying record at the Circuit of the Americas set last year.

"I'm really happy about that -- it was a nice lap," said Bottas on Saturday.

"To get those kind of laps on a track like this is a good feeling.

"On my last lap, I was losing grip overall so I am glad nobody improved in the end on the second runs."

The Finn, who has to win the race and hope Hamilton finishes outside the top eight to keep the championship alive, clocked a best lap in one minute and 32.029 seconds to outpace second-placed Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari by 0.012 seconds.

Max Verstappen was third for Red Bull ahead of Charles