George Russell claimed pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix with a superb lap on the streets of the city to narrowly beat Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz into second. With the title fight potentially to be decided in Las Vegas, Max Verstappen was fifth to start with an edge over his nearest rival Lando Norris in sixth. In a tightly contested session, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was an excellent third, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc fourth and Yuki Tsunoda seventh for RB.
The result ensures Verstappen is still in position to claim his fourth consecutive world championship in Saturday’s race and take the title with two rounds remaining in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Verstappen leads Norris by 62 points and would need to be 60 in front after Saturday’s GP to claim the championship. Any finish in front of Norris would be enough to seal the title, while the British driver must outscore Verstappen by three points or more in Las Vegas to prevent him taking the title and keep the fight alive until the next round in Doha.
After a delay in running when Franco Colapinto crashed his Williams in Q2, the final session opened with Norris setting the early pace with a 1 minute 33.237 second lap, in front of Piastri. Sainz then went quicker with Verstappen going second fastest but the Mercedes were flying with Russell taking the top spot, two-tenths clear of Sainz. Lewis Hamilton however had to abort his first run after he locked up.
With the track rubbering-up and the grip growing, the final laps were crucial and Russell demanded to go out as late as possible and was duly last out. Hamilton had no luck, lost the rear and went wide at turn three and could not make better than 10th. Sainz improved to take the top spot but only briefly as Russell nailed an even better lap, of 1 min 32.31 secs, with a magnificent run, a tenth up on Sainz.
This is Mercedes’ third pole this season after Russell also took the top spot in Canada and then at Silverstone. It follows Russell’s win in Austria and Hamilton’s at the British GP and Spa, and indicates the team have a genuine shot at taking a fourth, a tally they have not managed since the 2021 season.
It is Russell’s first pole in Las Vegas and the fourth of his career. He was disappointed at not converting pole to a win in Canada and Silverstone and at being disqualified from victory at Spa after his car was discovered to have been underweight. He will be determined to execute flawlessly on Sunday to claim his third F1 victory. On the form the car has shown in the cool temperatures in Las Vegas he is very much in a strong position to make the most of it.
Oscar Piastri was eighth for McLaren and Nico Hülkenberg ninth for Haas. Colapinto suffered a major impact with the wall at the penultimate corner, taking severe damage and ending Q2, but was unhurt and finished in 14th. The final session was delayed while the wall was checked and the track was cleared of debris. Esteban Ocon was in 11th for Alpine, Kevin Magnussen in 12th for Haas, Guanyu Zhou in 13th for Sauber and Liam Lawson in 15th for RB.
Sergio Pérez’s woes continued, with the Mexican knocked out in Q1 in 15th. Fernando Alonso was in 14th for Aston Martin. His teammate Lance Stroll suffered an energy recovery system failure in final practice and was just able to take part in qualifying for one hot lap but could manage only 20th place. Alex Albon was in 18th for Williams and Valtteri Bottas was in 19th for Sauber but with a five-place grid penalty for an engine change, he will start from the back of the grid.
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General Motors’ attempt to enter F1 as the 11th team on the grid is believed to have reached an advanced stage over the weekend of the LAs Vegas GP. The team’s acceptance to join the sport in 2026 could be officially announced as early as next week. GM had been working with the Andretti team as part of their unsuccessful efforts to be granted a place because F1 did not consider they would be competitive enough. However with the bid re-tooled as a GM works team, including building their own engine by 2028 and potentially entering under the Cadillac brand name, it appears F1 consider it to be a strong commercial prospect.