Hamilton held on for fourth, but slipped from 18 to 32 points behind Verstappen in the championship standings.
Leclerc brought out the red flags when he hit the wall at the second chicane with 45 minutes remaining, causing extensive damage to his Ferrari.
Max Verstappen, who could seal his fourth successive championship on Saturday, will line up fifth on the starting grid
Max Verstappen put his Red Bull on pole position for the Austrian 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.
Verstappen goes into the Formula One record books as the pole setter for the weekend, however, regardless of where he starts on Sunday.
Mocked, misjudged, written off, Lando Norris's carves own road to F1 Glory
Max Verstappen was compared to Formula One greats Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher on Sunday after the Dutch teenager's sensational drive to third place in a wet and chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix. Even father and former racer Jos, the 19-year-old Red Bull driver's biggest fan and fiercest critic, was astonished. "What Max showed here today was really special," he said of a race likely to go down in the sport's annals as one for the ages. In the last 15 laps, after a change to extreme wet tyres, Verstappen passed more than half the starting grid as he went from 16th place to the podium.
George Russell said he was driving better than ever and ready to fight for a Formula One championship with Mercedes after taking the team's first win of the season in Canada, but this year still looks a long shot.
Lando Norris completed a Hungarian Grand Prix practice double on Friday as runaway leaders McLaren dominated both sessions while leaving something in reserve and almost colliding at the end.
Factbox on Dutch driver Max Verstappen, who became Formula One's youngest race winner, aged 18, at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday.
Dutch rookie Max Verstappen, signed controversially as a 16-year-old by Toro Rosso, has swept a hat-trick of awards after confounding his critics in an impressive debut Formula One season.
Carlos Sainz lapped Monza's "Temple of Speed" with a fastest time of one minute 20.294 seconds, 0.013 quicker than Max Verstappen's final flying lap.
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz won the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday in a triumphant return two weeks after appendicitis surgery as Red Bull's World champion Max Verstappen suffered his first retirement in two years.
Lando Norris lucked in to win a rain-hit and crash-strewn Miami Grand Prix sprint race in a McLaren one-two on Saturday.
Max Verstappen celebrated his 21st birthday in style on Sunday with the Red Bull driver carving from the back of the Russian Grand Prix grid to first in the space of 19 laps.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the rain-hit Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday without racing even a single lap as half-points were awarded for only the sixth time in Formula One history.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen won Formula One's 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday to end Mercedes' run of domination and become champion Lewis Hamilton's closest challenger.
Dutch teenager Max Verstappen says he has learned from his Monaco Grand Prix crash, with the first lesson being to stay away from walls and barriers.
Dutch driver Max Verstappen has extended his contract with Red Bull until the end of 2023, the Formula One team announced in a statement on Tuesday. The Dutchman, who in 2016 became the youngest ever race winner in the sport's history, had been linked to both Ferrari and Mercedes in paddock speculation.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen qualified comfortably faster but dropped five places for a gearbox change.
Yuki Tsunoda said he has not been offered any guarantees about how long he will stay at Red Bull
Australian Piastri, winner of four of the last five races, lapped the Imola circuit with a fastest time of one minute 16.545 seconds on the softest tyre compound with Norris 0.032 slower on a sunny afternoon.
Dutch teenager Max Verstappen became Formula One's youngest race winner on Sunday in a sensational Spanish Grand Prix that saw dominant Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg collide on the opening lap.
A weekend that began at the top of the timesheets for Max Verstappen ended with the Dutchman out of the points and in a war of words with Ferrari rivals after a nightmare Belgian Formula One Grand Prix.
Verstappen took his 26th career win 0.9 of a second ahead of Spaniard Sainz,
In a race of safety cars and surprises, Verstappen's former team mate Pierre Gasly made a first podium appearance in second place for Red Bull-owned Toro Rosso, a rare Honda-powered one-two.
Lando Norris stretched his Formula One championship lead to nine points after winning Saturday's Sao Paulo sprint while McLaren teammate and title rival Oscar Piastri crashed in a big blow to the Australian's bid to get back on top.
The pole was the second of the Dutch 22-year-old's Formula One career and the first in Brazil for engine partners Honda since the late triple champion Ayrton Senna in 1991 with McLaren.
The times at the Istanbul Park circuit, hosting a Formula One race for the first time since 2011, were largely meaningless.
Max Verstappen won the Spanish Grand Prix in a Red Bull one-two on Sunday
Red Bull closed the gap to champions Mercedes in the constructors' standings to one point.
Sergio Perez won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix from pole position in a Red Bull one-two on Sunday with Max Verstappen staying top of the championship after racing from 15th to second.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri seized the first proper pole position of his Formula One career at the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday with the fastest lap yet around the Shanghai International Circuit.
Oscar Piastri is looking forward to watching Australia beat England at cricket after a F1 season of highs and lows ended in disappointment on Sunday.
Hamilton's team mate Valtteri Bottas finished third, ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, in a race aimed at providing more thrills for fans over the three days of track action and potentially shaking up the starting grid.
Red Bull's double World champion Max Verstappen swept to pole position at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Saturday with his sights set on a record 14th victory of the season.
Lando Norris held off McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri to win the Hungarian Grand Prix on a one-stop strategy and slash the Australian's Formula One lead to nine points going into the August break.
Australian driver Oscar Piastri, 23, emerged victorious in his first ever Formula One race at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday.
Norris's teammate Oscar Piastri, who spun off and finished ninth in his home race last Sunday after starting on the front row and challenging for the lead, has another good chance to rev up his season.
