George Russell delivered on Mercedes’ encouraging practice pace to beat Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz at the death to bag pole position at Formula 1‘s Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Mercedes went into qualifying having topped all three practice sessions, with Lewis Hamilton topping the times in FP1 and FP2 while Russell had been fastest in FP3.
Lance Stroll had come to a halt as the third practice session ended due to an energy recovery system failure, leaving Aston Martin up against the clock to get him out.
Oscar Piastri headed the initial times among those who had gone out on track, posting a 1:34.058s to emerge three-hundredths quicker than team-mate Lando Norris.
Hamilton had set the pace across the first sector, but the Briton was unable to maintain that momentum as he wound up 0.180 seconds down on Piastri’s benchmark.
Russell in the second Mercedes was a tenth down on his team-mate, while Max Verstappen’s opening tour in the Red Bull saw him complete the top five, 0.295s back.
Charles Leclerc was the first driver to break into the 1:33s barrier, but the McLaren drivers lowered the benchmark on their second laps as Piastri headed Norris again.
Verstappen, meanwhile, had slipped to ninth until he improved, though Sergio Perez in the sister Red Bull was encountering more troubles as he was demoted to 18th.
Perez was able to go faster on his last attempt, but he remained in danger in 12th place and improvements elsewhere resigned him to a second Q1 exit in three races.
Aston Martin also endured another nightmare outing as both drivers were knocked out in Q1, Stroll setting the slowest time on the one attempt that he got to do a lap.
Elsewhere, Alex Albon’s Williams and Valtteri Bottas’ Sauber accompanied those three in experiencing a premature exit as Russell led a Mercedes 1-2 to complete Q1.
The second stage began with Mercedes on top once more as Hamilton shot straight to the top until Verstappen went 0.051s faster to displace him on his second lap.
Russell, though, reassumed Mercedes’ position with a time that was two-tenths quicker than Verstappen’s 1:33.085s, while Hamilton slotted in one-tenth further back.
Leclerc was spearheading Ferrari’s assault as he registered a time that was strong enough to be third behind the two Mercedes cars, while Norris improved up to fifth.
Franco Colapinto was bidding to escape the drop zone, but his strive to maximise his lap saw him touch the inside barrier at Turn 16 and clatter into the opposite wall.
The Argentine’s impact dealt considerable damage to his car, providing a huge blow to Williams amid the sizeable repairs the team had to make prior to this weekend.
Colapinto’s vast collision had no bearing on the running order as the Williams driver bowed out with Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen, Zhou Guanyu and Liam Lawson.
Hamilton continued Mercedes’ advantage as he led the times in Q2, but the debris scattered over the track prompted an inevitable delay to the pole position shootout.
Once the all-important Q3 segment started, Sainz delivered a storming run to usurp the McLaren drivers, Norris this time upholding the advantage over his team-mate.
Norris, however, dropped back to third place behind title rival Verstappen, who did an extra preparation lap to slot his Red Bull into second place behind Sainz’s Ferrari.
That was until Russell pumped in a 1:32.811s to secure provisional pole, with Hamilton unable to respond as a lock-up into Turn 14 saw him abandon his opening run.
Leclerc had been situated down in seventh spot amid a mistake at Turn 10, but he managed to go 0.028s quicker than Russell as the conditions continued to improve.
That wouldn’t last, though, as Sainz thrashed his team-mate’s time and appeared poised to attain pole until Russell went 0.080s better to secure his third pole of 2024.
Pierre Gasly produced a spectacular lap to elevate his Alpine into the top three, demoting Leclerc to fourth. Verstappen completed the top five ahead of Norris in sixth.
Yuki Tsunoda excelled in the RB to split the McLaren cars in seventh, while Nico Hulkenberg capitalised on Hamilton slipping up on his last run to put his Haas in ninth.
READ MORE – F1 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix – Qualifying Results
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