Russell charges to pole for Las Vegas Grand Prix over Sainz and Gasly

Mercedes driver George Russell stormed to pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, edging out Ferrari rival Carlos Sainz and the high-flying Alpine of Pierre Gasly in Friday night’s pulsating qualifying session.

Having topped final practice and led the way after the first Q3 runs, Russell posted a time of 1m 32.312s on his final lap to secure the top spot and end a run of Ferrari and McLaren poles stretching back to his P1 performance at Silverstone in July.

Sainz was a tenth of a second back, while Pierre Gasly and Alpine built on their sensational double podium finish at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix last time out to deliver another eye-catching result in third place.

Charles Leclerc had to settle for fourth in his Ferrari, with championship rivals Max Verstappen and Lando Norris set to share the third row of the grid for Red Bull and McLaren in P5 and P6 respectively.

Yuki Tsunoda delivered a strong run to seventh in his RB, as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton completed the top-10 – the Mercedes man looking strong early on but making mistakes on both Q3 laps.

After two crashes last time out in Brazil, Franco Colapinto experienced another dramatic accident toward the end of Q2, littering debris all over the circuit and leaving the Argentinian in 14th for the race start – providing Williams can make the necessary repairs.

Esteban Ocon just missed out on Q3 in the other Alpine, taking 11th from the Haas of Kevin Magnussen and the Kick Sauber of Zhou Guanyu, who ended a lengthy run of Q1 eliminations, while RB’s Liam Lawson was the final driver to drop out in Q2.

It was another qualifying disaster for Sergio Perez, who lacked grip and confidence from the outset en route to a lowly 16th and his latest Q1 exit, leaving the Mexican with a mammoth task to add some points to Red Bull’s championship tally on Saturday night.

Aston Martin also endured a difficult session, with Fernando Alonso dropping out in 17th position and Lance Stroll bringing up the rear – the Canadian limited to just one timed lap thanks to a required power unit component change after his FP3 stoppage.

Alex Albon lost a lap time at the end of Q1 to finish the session in 18th, as Kick Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas wound up 19th ahead of his five-place engine-related grid penalty, meaning Stroll will at least gain a spot from the back of the grid.

AS IT HAPPENED

Q1 – Russell fastest as Perez exits early again

After three practice sessions topped by Mercedes, attention turned to the all-important qualifying hour at the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, with plenty of intrigue over who would have the pace when it mattered and ultimately secure pole position.

It was a race against time for Stroll to get involved in the grid-deciding action, given that Aston Martin mechanics had to change the Energy Recovery System aboard his Mercedes-powered car after it ground to a halt in the closing stages of final practice.

Once the majority of the field had ventured out onto the circuit, with only the aforementioned Stroll and Haas pair Magnussen and Hulkenberg absent from that group, it was Piastri who provisionally led the way on a 1m 33.450s over team mate Norris and Leclerc.

A constant flow of improvements followed as drivers built up temperature and confidence with their soft rubber, though, bringing a 1m 33.363s from Russell, while Leclerc slotted into second ahead of Piastri, Sainz, Norris and Verstappen.

At the other end of the order, and as the clock ticked down, Perez found himself in danger of a Q1 exit, with the penalised Bottas, Colapinto, Lawson and Stroll – who managed to make it out for a last-minute effort – also sitting in the drop zone.

A final flurry of laps to the chequered flag saw several drivers enjoy a spell in P1, including Verstappen and Hamilton, before Russell took over from the multiple world champions and brought the benchmark down to a 1m 33.186s.

Both Ferraris and McLarens safely progressed to Q2, as did the Haas cars, the Alpines, the RBs, Colapinto and Zhou, spelling bad news for Perez, who could not improve sufficiently from his earlier effort and was the first driver to drop out in 16th.

“Unbelievable… It just doesn’t get any better,” Perez lamented over the radio as he returned to the pits, with Alonso, Albon (who had a lap time deleted), the penalised Bottas and Stroll also failing to make it over the first qualifying hurdle.

Knocked out: Perez, Alonso, Albon, Bottas, Stroll

Q2 – Hamilton on top, Colapinto crashes heavily

Hamilton stated his intentions as the second qualifying phase began, pumping in a 1m 33.136s – marginally quicker than Russell’s Q1 time – to set the pace, with Piastri just one thousandth adrift and Verstappen only six hundredths further back in third position.

Russell then made his move, producing a 1m 32.881s, which compared to an improved 1m 32.965s from team mate Hamilton and low 1m 33s efforts from Leclerc and Verstappen – the latter having spent a few seconds at the top of the times again.

Hamilton got down to a 1m 32.567s on his final run and moved into P1 once more, followed closely by Sainz, Russell, Gasly, Leclerc and Piastri, as Verstappen, Tsunoda, Norris and Hulkenberg managed to put themselves in the other available Q3 spots.

Colapinto’s last-ditch effort to get himself into the pole shootout ended dramatically when he clipped the wall at the inside of Turn 16 and slammed into the barrier on the other side of the track, marking the latest sizeable crash for Williams after their Sao Paulo nightmare.

While Colapinto walked away from a scene littered with debris, mechanics will have a huge job on their hands to complete another round of repairs and enable him to start in P14, around fellow Q2 eliminees Ocon, Magnussen, Zhou (who made it out of Q1 for the first time since Hungary) and Lawson.

Knocked out: Ocon, Magnussen, Zhou, Colapinto, Lawson

Q3 – Russell gets the job done while Gasly stars

After a delay that allowed marshals to clean up the track surface and officials to inspect the barriers, the remaining 10 cars headed back out for the decisive Q3 phase and a shot at pole position – several drivers and teams appearing to be in the mix.

Russell was the winner across the opening runs, posting a 1m 32.811s to lead from Sainz, Verstappen and McLaren pair Norris and Piastri, with Hamilton back in 10th after a big lock-up forced the seven-time world champion to abandon his first lap.

Replays then showed the fine margins involved, Russell’s Mercedes clipping the wall at Turn 5 on its way to that time, while a radio message from the Briton expressed his desire to be the last driver out on track for the last Q3 runs amid the ever-improving conditions.

Russell did indeed head out last and, as the timesheets lit up with green and purple sector times, he emerged with a stunning lap of 1m 32.312s to put both hands on pole position – bumping down Sainz and Gasly who had clocked impressive efforts of their own.

Leclerc could not repeat his 2023 pole as he settled for fourth, in front of title-contending duo Verstappen and Norris, with Tsunoda, Piastri, Hulkenberg and Hamilton – who suffered a wild slide through Turn 3 on his final lap – completing the Q3 runners.

Key quote

“It feels incredible to be back on pole,” said pole-sitter Russell. “We’ve been so quick all weekend and I just knew coming into that last Q3 lap… that’s going to be the one that counts. It doesn’t matter what’s happened before then.

“I had a bit of a moment on my first run and we had to change the front wing, so there was a moment when I thought we weren’t going to make the flag. I’m just so happy. We’ve got to do some deep diving to understand why we’ve been so quick so far this weekend because it was a real surprise.”

What’s next

The 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix is set to begin at 2200 local time on Saturday. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can catch the action from the Las Vegas Strip Circuit.