George Russell takes Las Vegas pole as Max Verstappen beats Lando Norris
George Russell takes pole in Las Vegas as Max Verstappen outqualifies title rival Lando Norris.
George Russell claimed pole position at the Las Vegas Grand Prix as Max Verstappen outqualified F1 title rival Lando Norris.
After surviving a hit with the wall on his first run of Q3, Russell secured Mercedes’ first pole since the British Grand Prix with a brilliant lap that was just 0.098 seconds faster than the best lap Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz could manage.
Pierre Gasly claimed a stunning third on the grid for Alpine with a brilliant lap as the track ramped up in the dying moments of qualifying.
Charles Leclerc was fourth in the second Ferrari, ahead of Red Bull’s Verstappen, who can clinch his fourth successive world championship as long as he does not lose more than two points to Norris, who will start alongside his title rival in sixth.
RB’s Yuki Tsunoda was seventh ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, with Nico Hulkenberg ninth for Haas.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton could only qualify 10th after a scruffy pair of laps ruined his chances of challenging his Mercedes teammate for pole.
Esteban Ocon could not join his Alpine teammate in Q3 as he took 11th, ahead of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu, who was 13th.
For the second successive race, Franco Colapinto crashed out of qualifying and sustained heavy damage to his Williams - the last thing the British squad needed after a spate of recent huge accidents.
Colapinto ended up 14th-quickest, ahead of RB’s Liam Lawson.
On a weekend Red Bull boss Christian Horner admitted the team could change their driver line-up before next season, Sergio Perez had another shocking qualifying.
The under-pressure Mexican was dumped out of Q1 for the sixth time this year with a lap only good enough for 16th on the grid, marking another blow to Red Bull’s already-slim chances of retaining their constructors’ title.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso struggled to 17th ahead of Williams driver Alex Albon and Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas, who will start last on the Las Vegas grid once his five-place penalty for an engine change is applied.
Lance Stroll, who suffered an energy recovery system failure on his Aston Martin during FP3, could only complete one lap as he set the slowest time of qualifying in 20th.
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