Russell beats Sainz and Gasly to take pole at Las Vegas

F1 Grand Prix, GP Las Vegas, Las Vegas Street Circuit

Having displayed strong pace all through the weekend, Mercedes driver George Russell set the benchmark in qualifying at the Las Vegas Grand Prix to secure his fourth career pole position. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo reports on the nail-biting qualifying.

Having set the benchmark in every single practice session, Mercedes continued to impress in the first qualifying segment. George Russell topped the 18-minute session with a 1m33.186s, pipping his team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Having complained about lack of grip through the practice sessions, Max Verstappen took third in Q1, finishing only a tenth behind Russell. Ferrari and McLaren displayed very similar performance level in the first qualifying segment, with Alpine driver Pierre Gasly and Williams racer Franco Colapinto having also shown encouraging pace, with both finishing inside the top ten.

However, there was drama behind. Sergio Perez endured another shock elimination. Having crossed the finish line at the end of his last push lap, the Mexican immediately complained about lack of grip.

The second segment saw drivers do multiple laps to build up their speed over the session. Hamilton ended up fastest, recording the fastest lap of the weekend with a time of 1m33.567s.

With a late push lap, Carlos Sainz finished second, just under two tenths from Hamilton, with George Russell taking third.

After Alpine’s surprise double podium finish at Sao Paulo, Pierre Gasly set the fourth-quickest lap to make it out of Q2 comfortably. Leclerc was fifth, from Oscar Piastri in P6. Reigning champion Max Verstappen looked fairly comfortable through the first two sectors, and managed to set the seventh-quickest lap.

RB driver Yuki Tsunoda was half a second adrift of Hamilton’s benchmark in P8, with Lando Norris and Nico Hulkenberg bringing up the rear of the top ten.

The session took a premature end after a horrific crash of Franco Colapinto. Replays showed that the Argentinean clipped the inside of Turn 15, breaking his suspension, which sent him into the walls on the outside of Turn 16.

After a relatively long break induced by Colapinto’s high-speed crash, everyone was in a hurry to head back out onto the Las Vegas street circuit.

After the first run, George Russell found himself at the top of the leaderboard, prompting him to ask his team to start his second flying lap as the last driver.

Although Carlos Sainz briefly displaced Russell with his own second flying lap, the Mercedes driver bounced back in the dying seconds of the session to claim his third pole position of the season.

Sainz ended up second, only a tenth behind Russell, with Alpine driver Pierre Gasly taking a surprise third place for tomorrow’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Having made a mistake on his first lap, Charles Leclerc salvaged his day with a fourth spot for tomorrow’s race, fractionally beating reigning champion Max Verstappen.

McLaren driver Lando Norris was unable to challenge for top places, ending up only sixth, with his team-mate Oscar Piastri taking only eighth. RB driver Yuki Tsunoda took a surprise seventh, while Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg will line up ninth tomorrow.

Having been in contention for pole position all through the weekend, Lewis Hamilton made a mistake on both his Q3 laps, and will only start tomorrow in P10.