Russell dominates in Sin City, easily taking pole position. English driver Carlos Sainz and an incredible Pierre Gasly follow. Only fourth is the other Red of Leclerc. Friends-enemies Verstappen and Norris will start from the same row, fifth and sixth respectively. Seventh is Tsunoda ahead of Piastri. Ninth is Hulkenberg, while only tenth is a very disappointed Hamilton.
No Surprises in Las Vegas Q1: Perez and Aston Martins Out
Formula 1 returns to the track in the Las Vegas night, among neon lights, water games and famous casinos. The green light of the pit lane turns on among the thousand lights of the Las Vegas Strip, thus giving the start to the qualifications of the Las Vegas GP. The Mercedes confirm the excellent form seen in the free practices and conclude Q1 in front of Max Verstappen. The Dutchman, busy this weekend to close the practice for the fourth world title, will not be able to count on the help of his teammate, Sergio Perez, the first of the excluded. The two Aston Martins, Albon and Bottas, were also immediately eliminated. An excellent Colapinto, however, concluded the first qualifying session in seventh place.
Q2: Mercedes fly, Colapinto hits the wall
After the first laps to warm up the soft tyres in the cold Nevada night, the action begins. Verstappen tries to dictate the times once again, but once again the Mercedes are the cars to beat in qualifying, the race pace will tell a different story. Sainz and Leclerc slipstream each other and finish second and fifth respectively. The struggling McLarens do not go beyond sixth and ninth place. Hulkenberg is the last to access Q3. The second session ends with a huge crash from Franco Colapinto, who in the heat of qualifying cuts a chicane and hits the wall. The crash was so violent that it even moved the barriers, luckily the driver is okay. The Argentine for the second consecutive GP completely destroys his car, putting Williams in great difficulty. The crash in Brazil cost the English team three million dollars, and the one in Las Vegas will not be far from this figure. Ocon, the first of those excluded, Magnussen, Zhou and Lawson did not make it past the round.
Russell comfortably takes pole position at Las Vegas GP, Leclerc and Hamilton fail
The last qualifying session of the Las Vegas GP is slow to start after Colapinto's heavy crash. The stewards give the green light and the last qualifying session begins. After two warm-up laps, Verstappen places second behind Sainz and Russell who leads the Q3 standings with a time of 1:32.811. Hamilton does well to recover from a first mistake that could have put him out of the game. The magic fails on a second mistake that condemns him to tenth position. The incredible one-two Ferrari lasts a few seconds, Gasly and Russell are there to ruin the party for the Maranello Reds. The Briatore cure is starting to bear fruit, with the Frenchman from Alpine qualifying third, while the English driver of the Silver Arrows takes back the pole position with Olympic calm. Verstappen does what he can, but does not go beyond fifth position. The two McLarens do badly with Norris behind the Dutchman and Piastri eighth behind Tsunoda. Hulkenberg ninth ahead of Hamilton.
