George Russell secured pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix with an outstanding lap on the city streets, narrowly edging out Ferrari's Carlos Sainz for second place. With the championship potentially being decided in Las Vegas, Max Verstappen started in fifth, maintaining an advantage over his closest rival, Lando Norris, who was sixth. The session was closely fought, with Alpine's Pierre Gasly placing an impressive third, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc fourth, and Yuki Tsunoda seventh for RB.
The outcome keeps Verstappen in contention for his fourth consecutive world championship, which could be secured during Saturday's race, leaving just two rounds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Verstappen leads Norris by 62 points and needs to be 60 points ahead after the Las Vegas GP to clinch the title. Any finish ahead of Norris would secure the championship, while Norris must outscore Verstappen by at least three points to keep the title race alive until the next round in Doha.
A delay occurred during Q2 when Franco Colapinto crashed his Williams, but the final session resumed with Norris setting the early pace. Sainz briefly took the lead, but Russell ultimately claimed the top spot with a superb lap of 1 minute 32.31 seconds, a tenth of a second faster than Sainz. This marks Mercedes' third pole of the season and Russell's first in Las Vegas, though he has yet to convert his previous poles into wins.
Other notable performances included Oscar Piastri in eighth for McLaren and Nico Hülkenberg in ninth for Haas. Colapinto's crash ended Q2, but he was uninjured and finished 14th. Sergio Pérez continued to struggle, exiting in Q1, while Fernando Alonso placed 14th for Aston Martin. General Motors' bid to enter F1 as the 11th team appears to be advancing, with a potential announcement as early as next week.
Source link: https://www.theguardian.com
