F1 Las Vegas GP: Norris storms to pole in wet qualifying with Piastri fifth

Lando Norris overcame a wet Las Vegas Grand Prix qualifying to secure his third consecutive Formula 1 pole, rescuing his car from a slide to beat Max Verstappen to the front of the grid.

The McLaren driver had set off on an impressive pair of sectors on his final lap, sitting almost a second up on Verstappen at the close of the second sector; Verstappen himself had just put 0.04s over Carlos Sainz to sit in provisional pole.

Norris then picked his way through the Turn 14-15-16 trio of corners and went sideways under acceleration, something which cost time but ultimately proved good enough for pole. This was evidently of some surprise to Norris, who figured that someone behind him might be able to find improvement.

Incredibly wet conditions greeted the start of the session and, although 16 of the 20 drivers attempted to start Q1 on the intermediate tyre, these were quickly abandoned for the full wet as the circuit offered minimal grip as the rain continued to fall.

The drivers eventually braved the intermediates once again by Q3, as the circuit had slowly dried through the progression of qualifying - but the circuit remained treacherous despite the formation of a drying line.

Verstappen and Sainz were both half a second clear of George Russell, who could not repeat his pole-winning efforts from last season and ultimately qualified in fourth place. However, Sainz will have to answer a summons to the stewards having allegedly rejoined the circuit unsafely in front of Lance Stroll in Q1.

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

Oscar Piastri was unable to close in on team-mate and title rival Norris on his final lap after backing off for a yellow flag following Charles Leclerc's excursion into the run-off at Turn 12, and leads an all-Oceanic third row as Liam Lawson plonked his Racing Bulls machinery in sixth.

Fernando Alonso was a further 0.4s back, and a tenth ahead of Isack Hadjar who, despite flashes of impressive pace throughout the session, couldn't get the bragging rights over Lawson.

Like Piastri, Leclerc was unable to improve on his final effort thanks to his Turn 12 off and only managed to reach ninth, as Pierre Gasly completed the top 10.

Nico Hulkenberg had been dumped out of qualifying in the final moments of Q2 by Gasly, who was last to buzz the timing line to break into the top 10. He was joined on the sixth row of the grid by Stroll, whose intermediate tyre gamble did not pay off.

The Canadian had shown strong pace throughout the session, but a swap to the inters after the halfway point of the session did not offer any further rewards as the circuit proved to be slow at drying out amid the low track temperatures.

Both Haas drivers were knocked out in Q2, as Ollie Bearman had narrowly escaped being dumped out in Q1 after aquaplaning into the Turn 14 wall. Franco Colapinto's best lap was hindered by a lurid slide at Turn 15, which the Argentine managed to save - but he could not keep himself from finishing the session in 15th.

Alexander Albon, Williams

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

In a Q1 defined by poor visibility, Alex Albon hit the wall on the exit of Turn 16 to extinguish his burgeoning hopes of making it into Q2, having just set a purple first sector and a competitive middle sector. The Anglo-Thai driver thus fell at the first hurdle, joined by Andrea Kimi Antonelli who was unable to find enough improvement in his final effort.

Bortoleto and Yuki Tsunoda were also cast out of the reckoning in a tricky opening stage of qualifying, as Lewis Hamilton propped up the order having apparently picked up a bollard at Turn 14.

F1 Las Vegas GP - Qualifying results

Q3

All Stats

 

Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	L. Norris McLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	8	1'47.934		I	206.826
2	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	7	+0.323 1'48.257	0.323	I	206.209
3	C. Sainz Williams	55		Williams	Mercedes	7	+0.362 1'48.296	0.039	I	206.135
4	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	7	+0.869 1'48.803	0.507	I	205.174
5	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	7	+1.027 1'48.961	0.158	I	204.876
6	L. Lawson RB	30		RB	Honda	7	+1.128 1'49.062	0.101	I	204.687
7	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	7	+1.532 1'49.466	0.404	I	203.931
8	I. Hadjar RB	6		RB	Honda	7	+1.620 1'49.554	0.088	I	203.768
9	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	7	+1.938 1'49.872	0.318	I	203.178
10	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Renault	6	+3.606 1'51.540	1.668	I	200.139
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