F1 Las Vegas GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 & Qualifying
Saturday's action from the 21st round of the 2023 Formula 1 season.
Live AppleTV Race Audio
After a tough opening day of action following FP1 being called off after eight minutes due to a dislodged water value cover that sustained major damage to Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari and Esteban Ocon’s Alpine, and then FP2 being run without fans at 2:30am local time, F1 will be targeting a smoother final practice and qualifying.
The Las Vegas GP is the penultimate race of the 2023 season and provides an all-new challenge to the teams and the drivers, on a street track built around the famous city Strip.
Final practice begins at 4:30am GMT, followed by qualifying at 8am GMT.
Live Standings
presented by
Stopped
Summary
Summary
Leclerc grabs pole from Sainz, but it's Verstappen who will start from second, with Russell in third
Eliminated in Q2: Hamilton, Perez, Hulkenberg, Stroll and Ricciardo
Knocked out in Q1: Norris, Ocon, Zhou, Piastri and Tsunoda
Stroll gets a five-place grid penalty before the start of qualifying for ignoring yellow flags during practice
With that, we'll wrap up this live coverage of Las Vegas GP qualifying. Never fear, we'll be back for the main event with the race starting at 6am GMT/10pm local time. Until then, have a lovely Saturday and go well!
A replay of Leclerc's pole lap rather backs up his assessment, a few steering corrections and changes, but that Ferrari has had pace over one lap all season. Can it back it up in the race this time?
Leclerc on his 23rd career F1 pole: "Of course happy, first in Las Vegas, an incredible event, to be starting from pole is great but I am disappointed with my lap in Q3, I didn't do a good enough job but it was enough for P1."
Sainz on his P2 in qualifying: "An outstanding job by the whole team to dominant qualifying, after yesterday and putting together a whole car again, to get a front-row lockout is incredible. Of course I would've liked to start on pole as it would mean 11th and not 12th, but I think we did the maximum we could. I'm not going to lie I am still in a bad mood after yesterday."
Verstappen on his P3 in qualifying: "It felt good yesterday [in practice], we would've liked to have more pace today but we know the points are tomorrow. First one here, you never know, might be some safety cars, so we'll manage the race."
Russell starts his timed lap having completed his double warm-up lap. Curiously, both Williams did just an out-lap before pitting again, so neither of them have a lap time to their name.
Perez pits with just under three minutes to go currently in sixth, and that looks like he's done for Q2. He is four-tenths clear of the point of no return (we need more names for the drop zone) so that is a risk.
On the Sphere chat, it is worth stating it has been banned from displaying certain colours during sessions to avoid confusing the drivers when on track. Very easy to confuse it for a massive yellow flag or panel board.
The Sphere is behaving itself, for now, displaying a red F1 logo on a black backdrop. I say bring back the yellow emoji face, really spook the drivers.
