George Russell took F1 Las Vegas GP pole by a 0.098s margin over Carlos Sainz, as Pierre Gasly ended up third.
Q1:
It was cold still in the first part of F1 Las Vegas GP qualifying under the floodlights where Mercedes’ George Russell led the way with a 1m33.186s lap from teammate Lewis Hamilton, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen rounding the Top 3.
The knockout zone saw another drop for Red Bull’s Sergio Perez (1m34.155s), who missed Q2 again by a 0.068s margin. The Mexican ran just the one set of tyres which didn’t work like teammate, but the Dutchman managed to set good lap times in the front.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso (1m34.258s) was out in 17th along with an angry Williams’ Alexander Albon (1m34.425s). Kick Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas (1m34.430s) was 19th from Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll (1m34.484s), who made it out for one lap after an ERS issue in FP3.
Q2:
The second part in F1 Las Vegas GP qualifying saw Mercedes remain on top with Hamilton setting the pace with a 1m32.567s lap, ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and the other Mercedes of Russell in the Top 3 to end the session.
It ended under yellow after a huge crash for Williams’ Franco Colapinto. The Argentine clipped the wall on the inside and then banged on the outside at Turn 16. The impact was such that it pushed the wall back, which needed repair work.
He was knocked out in 14th with a 1m33.749s lap behind Alpine’s Esteban Ocon (1m33.221s), Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m33.297s) and Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu (1m33.566s), as Visa Cash App RB’s Liam Lawson (1m34.257s) was 15th.
Q3:
There was a delayed start to the final part in F1 Las Vegas GP qualifying due to wall repair work post the crash of Colapinto. Once things got going, it was Russell on top with a 1m32.811s lap, while teammate Hamilton had to bail out from his fast lap.
Russell had Sainz and Verstappen on his tail in the Top 3, with McLaren pair of Norris and Piastri rounding the Top 5. The final run saw Russell keep his momentum to further improve on his time with a 1m33.312s lap to take F1 pole in Las Vegas GP.
He was 0.098s ahead of Sainz (1m32.410s), who popped up on top after dismantling his teammate Leclerc (1m32.783s). But the Monegasque dropped to fourth after Alpine’s Pierre Gasly emerged third on the road with a lap of 1m32.664s.
Verstappen (1m32.797s) was fifth and crucially ahead of F1 title rival Norris (1m33.008s), whose teammate Piastri (1m33.033s) was only eighth behind Visa Cash App RB’s Yuki Tsunoda (1m33.029s) in a close fight for positions.
The Top 10 was rounded out by Haas’ Nico Hulkemberg (1m33.062s) and Hamilton (1m48.106s), where the Brit had his lap deleted due to a mistake on both of his quick laps in the first and second run.
Here’s what was said after Friday in F1 Las Vegas GP
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