3 days Ago By [email protected] (Samuel Meade)
George Russell took pole position at the Las Vegas Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton fluffed his lines. Mercedes had been the fastest car throughout practice and looked prime to qualify at the front, but Hamilton couldn't take advantage of that pace as he eventually came home in tenth after making an error on his flying lap. The two Ferraris both took provisional pole with Carlos Sainz eventually ending up in second whilst Charles Leclerc will start fourth.
Pierre Gasly produced a stunning lap to end in third. Max Verstappen lines up on the third row of the grid, just ahead of championship rival Lando Norris. The Red Bull had struggled to pace for much of the weekend so the Dutchman had to pull out all the stops to compete with those around him.
Verstappen, who comes off the back of a stunning win in Brazil last time out, can seal the world championship on Sunday if the results go his way. Russell confessed he didn't know where Mercedes' speed came from but said: "It is incredible to be back on pole. We have been so quick all weekend I knew coming into that last Q3 lap, that would be the one that counts, it doesn't matter what happened before then.
"I had a bit of a moment on my first run. We had to change my front wing. There was a moment I thought we wouldn't make the flag.
We have to do some deep diving to understand why we have been so quick this weekend because it was a real surprise." Sergio Perez's terrible qualifying run continued as he was knocked out in the first session, further casting doubt over his own position. It was also less than ideal for Red Bull, who are trying to chase down McLaren and Ferrari in the teams' championship.
The final session of qualifying had to be delayed after Franco Colapinto crashed his Williams into the barrier, which required some surgery before it was deemed safe once again. Las Vegas qualifying result P1: George Russell (Mercedes) P2: Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) P3: Pierre Gasly (Alpine) P4: Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) P5: Max Verstappen (Red Bull) P6: Lando Norris (McLaren) P7: Yuki Tsunoda (RB) P8: Oscar Piastri (McLaren) P9: Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) P10: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) P11: Esteban Ocon (Alpine) P12: Kevin Magnussen (Haas) P13: Zhou Guanyu (Sauber) P14 Franco Colapinto (Williams) P15: Liam Lawson (RB) P16: Sergio Perez (Red Bull) P17: Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) P18: Alex Albon (Williams) P19: Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) P20: Lance Stroll (Aston Martin).
