Lewis Hamilton said horses were his "next thing" after riding one for the first time ahead of the US Grand Prix.
Verstappen leads seven times world champion Hamilton by six points with six races remaining and the pole at Austin's Circuit of the Americas was the ninth of the season for the Dutch 24-year-old -- and eighth in the last 11 races.
Austin is a favourite track for the 34-year-old Mercedes driver and he will also be fancied to round up his Texan win tally to six on Sunday.
Piastri now leads Britain's Norris by 14 points with five rounds and two sprints remaining, while Verstappen has slashed his gap to the Australian to 40 after being 104 behind at the end of August.
With eight points on offer to the winner of Saturday's 100km race, he and Norris -- 22 points behind Piastri -- both have a good chance to reduce the gap to the Australian who was three tenths slower than his teammate.
Red Bull make changes to car after discussions with FIA
Red Bull's triple Formula One world champion Max Verstappen won a US Grand Prix sprint race from pole position on Saturday after an early challenge from Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton.
Max Verstappen seized pole position for Sunday's US Grand Prix while Formula One leader Oscar Piastri qualified sixth after a costly sprint race collision with his McLaren teammate Lando Norris.
Lewis Hamilton will be aiming for a big win in Texas this weekend, even if the Formula One starting grid is the smallest he has ever known it with the absence of backmarker teams Marussia and Caterham.
The governing FIA had reported both drivers to stewards after their cars failed post-race checks
Lewis Hamilton took a big step towards a second Formula One World championship on Sunday with his 10th win of the season in a US Grand Prix that saw Mercedes equal the record for one-two finishes. The Briton stretched his lead over team mate Nico Rosberg to 24 points with two races and 75 points remaining, a gap that guarantees the title chase will go down to the final round in Abu Dhabi whatever happens in Brazil.
Red Bull's Mexican Sergio Perez was a distant third, struggling with dehydration after a water bottle failure in the Texas heat.
Mercedes's Valtteri Bottas snatched pole position for the US Grand Prix on Saturday, breathing life into his remote title hopes while signalling to Lewis Hamilton he will not be gifting a sixth drivers' crown to his team mate.
Images from the US Grand Prix held at the at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, on Sunday.
McLaren could clinch their first constructors' crown since 1998 on Sunday if they outscore Ferrari by 21 points at the Qatar F1 Grand Prix.
Valtteri Bottas ended his year-long drought with a dominant victory in Turkey on Sunday while unhappy Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton finished fifth and lost the Formula One championship lead to Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Lewis Hamilton has no regrets over his jump to Mercedes next season, again dismissing comments from McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh that the Englishman was having second thoughts about his move.
The final phase of qualifying was halted, with only Piastri and Haas' Nico Hulkenberg having set times, when Sainz slammed backwards into the barriers at the final corner as he prepared to start his flying lap.
The eight-times Olympic gold-medallist sprinter has been enlisted to send the field off for the pre-race formation lap at the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.
Lewis Hamilton has no plans to gift any wins to Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas despite having a fifth Formula One championship sewn up.
Fernando Alonso hailed the Briton as a Formula One great and said he was happy to see him stand on the brink of a fifth world championship.
Lewis Hamilton won the Mexican Grand Prix for Mercedes after a first-lap scare on Sunday but the Briton will have to wait another week to wrap up his sixth Formula One world championship. Hamilton's 10th win of the season, and 83rd of his career, was also a 100th for Mercedes as a constructor.
'The best part is if you get on the podium with them two, in the room before we go out on the podium just after the race, you take the helmet off and it's awkward for me because it's just so silent'
Lewis Hamilton's record already bears comparison to Michael Schumacher's, and in some areas exceeds the great German's achievements.
'I was actually with Serena last week in LA ... she came out to Mexico (for the race) which for me was a real honour to have someone of her power, someone who has achieved so much' 'Venus talks a lot about wisdom and about her growth and about the process of being a sportsman or sportswoman so generally from both of them, I take a lot of inspiration and admire them both hugely'
Lewis Hamilton led every lap from pole position to chequered flag, banging in a fastest lap for good measure to emphasise his supremacy
Hamilton already has plenty of records, including 87 pole positions and 33 successive scoring finishes, and his 83 wins put him on course to surpass Schumacher's record tally of 91 next year.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton won the US Grand Prix on Sunday while Red Bull's championship leader Sebastian Vettel failed to clinch his third consecutive drivers' title on his 100th career start.
Lewis Hamilton pulverised the track record to claim pole position on Saturday ahead of a US Grand Prix that could secure the Mercedes driver's fourth Formula One world championship.
The pole was a record-extending 88th of Hamilton's career and fifth of the season.
Formula One will have a record 24 races in the season that starts in Bahrain on Saturday.
Germany's Nico Rosberg chalked up his 10th pole position of the season on Saturday after beating team mate Lewis Hamilton in a Mercedes sweep of the front row in Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying.
Lewis Hamilton feels a fifth Formula One title would be his proudest achievement and he wants to seal it by winning Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton's hopes of clinching his fifth Formula One World championship at the US Grand Prix were boosted on Friday when Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel was handed a three-place grid penalty for a practice infringement.
The win was a first for Ferrari in Mexico since 1990 and fourth of Carlos Sainz's career.
Lewis Hamilton is hoping rain will come to the rescue as a Hockenheim heatwave threatens to dash Mercedes's hopes of a home German Grand Prix win on Sunday.
'NO problem. Nobody was hurt, which is the most important thing'
Nico Rosberg won the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix for the second year in a row on Sunday and denied Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton a first success in the homeland of his late hero Ayrton Senna.
Fresh from his 50th Formula One win, triple world champion Lewis Hamilton remains convinced anything is possible in the title race even if he could lose his crown as early as Sunday.
Lewis Hamilton has had more success in Shanghai than any other Formula One driver, which makes Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix the ideal location for the triple world champion to end Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg's winning streak. While Rosberg has started the season with a perfect 50 points from two races, and a run of five successive victories dating back to last November, Hamilton is ready to turn the tables. The Briton has won four times in Shanghai and is on for three in a row after last season becoming the only driver to win the race in successive years. "It's not been a smooth start to the season for me, so to be in the championship position I'm in right now is actually pretty positive," said Hamilton, who lies second in the standings after a second and a third place. "Now we go to China for the next battle. It's a track that's been good to me over the years... so hopefully this race can be the turning point." Hamilton has not won since he took his third world championship in Austin, Texas, last October but the 31-year-old has started both races this season on pole position.
