Lando Norris hit the jackpot by taking pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix ahead of his title challenger Max Verstappen.
The McLaren driver has achieved three consecutive pole positions. His lap time ofone minute, 47.934 seconds was nearly three-tenths faster than Verstappen during a qualifying session which remained wet throughout.
Carlos Sainz put in another strong qualifying performance for Williams and finished ahead of George Russell, in which the Mercedes driver having topped both Q1 and Q2 sessions in the worst of the conditions.
Oscar Piastri was left in fifth position having gone into the run-off area at Turn 12 on his final Q3 effort after going wheel-to-wheel with Isack Hadjar’s Racing Bulls.
The second Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson finished in P6, as the top ten was completed by Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin, Hadjar, Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, which also ran deep at Turn 12 on his final effort, and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine.
Norris picked his way through the Turn 14-15-16 series 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 time improvement.
The wet conditions greeted the start of the qualifying session and, although 16 of the 20 drivers attempted to start Q1 on intermediate tyres, these were quickly abandoned for full wets as the circuit offered low grip as the rain continued to fall.
The drivers eventually switched to the intermediates by Q3, as the circuit had slowly dried through the progression of qualifying – but the track 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 year and ended up in fourth place. However, Sainz will have to answer to the stewards having allegedly rejoined the circuit unsafely in front of Lance Stroll in Q1.
Oscar Piastri was unable to close in on teammate and title rival Norris on his final lap after following Charles Leclerc into the run-off at Turn 12.
Fernando Alonso was a further 0.4 seconds back, and a tenth ahead of Isack Hadjar who, despite flashes of impressive pace throughout the session, could not qualify ahead of Liam 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 ten.
Nico Hulkenberg had been eliminated out of qualifying in the final moments of Q2 by Gasly, who was last to cross the timing line to break into the top ten. He will be joined on the sixth row of the grid by Stroll, whose intermediate-tyre gamble did not pay off.
The Aston Martin driver had shown strong pace throughout qualifying, but a swap to the inters after the halfway point of the session did not offer work as the circuit proved to be slow at drying out due the low track temperatures.
Both Haas drivers were knocked out in Q2, following Oliver Bearman’s narrow escape from Q1 after aquaplaning into the Turn 14 wall. Franco Colapinto’s best lap was halted by a wild slide at Turn 15, which the Alpine driver managed to save – but he could not keep himself from finishing the session in P15.
In a Q1 defined by poor visibility, Alex Albon hit the barrier on the exit of Turn 16 in his hopes of making it into Q2, having just set a purple first sector and a competitive middle sector. The Williams driver thus fell at the first segment of qualifying, joined by Andrea Kimi Antonelli who was unable to find enough improvement in his final effort.
Bortoleto and Yuki Tsunoda were also dropped out in a tricky opening stage of qualifying, along with Lewis Hamilton who having apparently picked up a bollard at Turn 14.
So congratulations to Lando Norris in taking an important pole position ahead of his championship rivals. It will be fascinating if McLaren have got good race pace. Bring on the Las Vegas night race.
Las Vegas Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:47.934
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:48.257
3 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:48.296
4 George Russell Mercedes 1:48.803
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:48.961
6 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:49.062
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:49.466
8 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 1:49.554
9 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:49.872
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:51.540
11 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:52.781
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:52.850
13 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:52.987
14 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:53.094
15 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:53.683
16 Alexander Albon Williams 1:56.220
17 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:56.314
18 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 1:56.674
19 Yuki Tsuonda Red Bull 1:56.798
20 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:57.115
Lando Norris claimed pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the McLaren driver and Drivers’ Championship leader mastering wet conditions to finish ahead of Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz while title rival Oscar Piastri settled for fifth.
It marks three consecutive pole positions for Norris, whose 1m 47.934s was nearly three-tenths faster than Verstappen during a Qualifying session which remained wet throughout.
Williams’ Sainz put in another strong Qualifying performance and finished ahead of George Russell, the Mercedes driver having topped both Q1 and Q2 sessions in the worst of the conditions.
Piastri was left in fifth having gone into the run-off area at Turn 12 on his final effort after going wheel-to-wheel with Isack Hadjar’s Racing Bulls.
The second Racing Bulls machine of Liam Lawson finished P6, as the top-10 was completed by Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin, Hadjar, Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, which also ran deep at Turn 12 on his final effort, and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/norris-takes-las-vegas-gp-pole-from-verstappen-and-sainz-in-thrilling-rain.4iIHVx7pibOgnH93J6CUQZ
Lewis Hamilton is set for a challenging Las Vegas Grand Prix after qualifying in 20th.
The wet qualifying session left the Briton battling against poor visibility and struggling with grip. After finishing the third practice session feeling like one of the fastest on the track, Hamilton endured a disappointing end to the day.
“Obviously, it feels horrible. It doesn’t feel good. But all I can do is I’ve just got to let it go by,” he explained after qualifying.
“I’m going to try and come back tomorrow. I’ve done everything I could possibly do in terms of preparation, in terms of getting all the practice sessions. Today was feeling amazing in P3.
“I just didn’t get a lap at the end, but I felt like we were quickest. And then you come out of qualifying 20th. This year is definitely the hardest year.”
Looking ahead to tomorrow, the Ferrari driver added: “We’ll try tomorrow. I think we’ve got a really good car. It’ll be really, really hard to come back from 20th.”
After some initial confusion about whether Hamilton had crossed the line in time to put in a final lap and whether there had been a communication issue with the team, he clarified that it was red as he crossed the line.
“I had a yellow flag in the last corner, and then going into Turn 17 there was a yellow flag, and then I had to lift, came across the line and it was red. But I didn’t have the grip anyway, so I don’t think it would have made much difference.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/lewis-hamilton-feels-horrible-as-he-braces-for-really-hard-f1-las-vegas-gp-recovery-drive/10778750/
Both Alex Albon and Gabriel Bortoleto described their qualifying sessions for the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix as one of the most challenging wet sessions they’ve faced. This came as grip and visibility became a premium as rain hit the famous Strip circuit.
Both drivers were knocked out of qualifying in Q1 as the street circuit soaked up the Nevada rain. Williams’ Albon will start 16th for tomorrow’s race while Sauber’s rookie driver Bortoleto sits two places behind him.
“Frustrating in many ways,” Albon told the media after a difficult session. “I think we just need to review where we were on track, because we were unfortunately in the slow group, where I think it was Lewis [Hamilton], myself, Liam [Lawson].
“I think at that time we were all just slow on track and I kept catching them all and getting into dirty air. I think in the end I had one clean lap, so I kind of had to make it count.
“It was my only clean lap, so I didn’t really have any rhythm at all. It was okay. Made a mistake and that was it.”
Asked about running on the full wet tyres in the poor conditions, the Thai-British driver admitted his surprise that the FIA didn’t red-flag the session.
“I’m surprised we were driving, to be honest, in many ways. Like, the aquaplaning into Turn 14 was incredible. And it was a little bit of a lottery if you got it or not. But yeah, it was sketchy.”
Bortoleto, after his first qualifying session in the third US race of the season, reported a drop in confidence.
“I felt very low grip and I feel like I couldn’t extract a lot of grip I had in the last two laps. I think that’s where I missed out mainly, was these last two laps.
“I lost a bit of confidence with the car. I felt like at the beginning of the session I was quite happy, braking late and feeling comfortable. And at the end I just felt like I had no confidence anymore.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/alex-albon-questions-fia-after-sketchy-wet-las-vegas-f1-qualifying/10778755/
Mercedes Formula 1 drivers George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, alongside Williams’ Carlos Sainz, have escaped sanctions after investigations following Las Vegas Grand Prix qualifying.
Mercedes was summoned for both of its cars failing to submit their set-up sheets in time for qualifying, with the document needing to be sent over to the governing body before the 8:00pm start.
As the relevant article of F1’s sporting regulations says: “Each Competitor must provide the Technical Delegate with a suspension set-up sheet for both of their cars before each of them leaves the pitlane for the first time during the sprint qualifying session and the qualifying session.”
The stewards didn’t receive those sheets in time, but in its hearing Mercedes was able to prove that it had sent the documents in time.
“The Stewards heard from the team representative of Car 63 (George Russell),” the stewards wrote, with a similar document addressing his team-mate’s summons.
“Although the FIA did not receive the set-up sheet electronically in the specified time, the team was able to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Stewards, with copies of the relevant emails, that the sheet had been emailed to the appropriate FIA department but due to some IT security issue it was not received in the specified time.”
As a result the stewards take no further action, meaning Russell and Antonelli will line up in fourth and 17th on Saturday night’s starting grid in Las Vegas. Russell felt qualifying in difficult rainy conditions was a “missed opportunity” to qualify on the front row after reporting steering issues on his Q3 laps.
His rookie team-mate Antonelli was eliminated in Q1 after locking up on his final flyer, when the constantly improving conditions meant drivers had to make sure they got a clean lap in at the end of the segment.
Meanwhile, Sainz has avoided losing his third-place grid position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, having been investigated for rejoining the circuit unsafely ahead of Lance Stroll.
Sainz went off the road in Q1 at Turn 5 and was seen to return to the track just ahead of Stroll, who appeared to take evasive action. The stewards elected to investigate after the session in a wet qualifying session at Las Vegas.
However, Aston Martin’s representative at the stewards’ summons stated that Stroll “did not consider the manoeuvre to be unsafe” and thus no further action was taken.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/russell-antonelli-mercedes-sainz-las-vegas/10778815/
Lando Norris admits that achieving pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix was “stressful as hell” after overcoming treacherous conditions in Qualifying and moving one step closer to a maiden Drivers’ World Championship.
The achievement marks Norris’ third consecutive pole position, having previously gone on to take victory in both Mexico City and Sao Paulo which has helped the Briton to a 24-point lead over McLaren team mate and title rival Oscar Piastri in the standings.
Drivers were faced with their first wet running at the Las Vegas street circuit since it was introduced on the calendar in 2023, with Norris only finishing P13 in the opening Q1 segment when conditions were at their worst.
But Norris came to the fore when it mattered most, posting a 1m 47.934s which left him three-tenths clear of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen ahead of the 50-lap race.
“It was stressful, stressful as hell! I didn’t know no-one else was going to get a lap after me,” said Norris.
“I felt like the first two sectors were good but it’s so slippery out there. As soon as you hit the kerb a little bit wrong like I did, you snap one way, you lose the car the other way, close to hitting the wall but good enough for P1 today.
“Not the nicest of conditions but I’m happy it stopped raining and we could get a good Qualifying.
“You need a good car to do it first of all. The team did a good job. To be honest I was having a little nap before Quali and I was expecting it to be dry.
“I woke up and I saw it was raining and I thought, ‘Oh c***, this is not going to go well!’.
“No-one’s ever driven around here in the rain before, it’s difficult to know what to expect, and after Q1 every corner you felt like you could crash and it could easily be over.
“One step at a time – Q1, Q2, Q3, all tough, so more rewarding a day like this because it was a tricky one.”
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/stressful-as-hell-norris-reflects-on-third-consecutive-pole-position-after.42mxrHVZN8GCsY7x56lXLm