After dominating free practice for all three sessions, Mercedes also takes pole position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix. He does it with a phenomenal George Russellvery fast throughout the weekend thanks to a rediscovered Mercedes driven by the low temperatures on the track.
However, Lewis Hamilton did not repeat himself, as he made two mistakes out of two laps and found himself starting from tenth position with a car that could easily have been on the front row. The mistakes of the seven-time world champion launch who will leave his place at Ferrari next year, namely Carlos Sainz. With a splendid last lap the Spaniard takes second position, ahead of an unsuspected Pierre Gasly, in a state of grace with the Alpine. Fourth position for the other Red car of Charles Leclerc which leaves Maranello to hope for a good result in the race in terms of the Constructors’ World Championship, also given the disappointing Saturday of the McLarens: Norris is sixth, also behind Max Verstappen’s Red Bull – if the GP ended like this tomorrow the Dutchman from Red Bull would be world champion for the fourth time – while Oscar Piastri is even eighth. Among them is the Racing Bulls of the excellent Tsunoda. Finally, ninth position for Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas. Perez, with the second Red Bull, was even eliminated in Q1.
Qualifying in Las Vegas ‘stained’ by the bad accident without consequences for Franco Colapinto at the end of Q2: the Argentine swerves early, loses control of the car at high speed exiting Turn 16 and ends up against the barriers. The impact was terrible: driver ok, but Williams completely destroyed.
Mercedes unbeatable in all the free practice and qualifying sessions in Las Vegas, and confirmation also came in Q3, with the Russell’s first pole position of the season from his home GP in Great Britain. “We didn’t think we had this pace, it’s incredible that we were back on pole and that we were so fast all weekend. I knew that the Q3 lap would be the one that counted and that it didn’t matter what I had done before – he smiles, bursting with joy from all over the Englishman from Mercedes – I had a little scare on my first attempt, we had to change the front wing and then I thought I wouldn’t be able to cross the finish line in time to avoid the flag, but I’m really very happy and the fact that we went so fast this weekend it was a real surprise. I had confidence in myself and I knew that if I did a clean lap it would be enough for the front row, and also to get pole is incredible. I’ve had some good qualifying recently, but – concludes Russell – now we have to convert them into a victory. Racing in Las Vegas is fantastic, there is a great atmosphere late at night and now I’m excited for the race.”
And on his part it is Carlos Sainz satisfied after taking pole position in Las Vegas with his Ferrari. «We must maintain confidence because tomorrow we can fight for the top positions, so if today we were so close in qualifying, tomorrow we will have the chance to win. This is the objective, tomorrow the strategy will obviously be different.” «It was a very tough and hard-fought qualifying – adds the Spanish driver – and it was also difficult to get the tires up to temperature. We were closer than we expected, to be honest I thought I had pole but then George (Russell, ed.) arrived very quickly at the end. I’m very happy because I got a good position for tomorrow. I was 2nd last year too but then I was thrown to the back of the grid due to the famous manhole, now I will start from 2nd place and hope to be able to do better. I think the Mercedes were better at warming up the tyres, in the first sector they were flying and gaining three tenths on us, while we recovered during the lap. Tomorrow we will start from scratch and we will see how the car will behave with a lot of fuel on board. As for McLaren, we need to win – concludes Sainz – it’s not enough for us to stay in front because they have a big advantage in the Constructors’ championship. Then we’ll go to Qatar, which won’t be a good track for us and where we’ll struggle, so it’s necessary to win and I won’t have to change my approach too much.”
Starting grid
1st row 1. George Russell (Gbr) Mercedes in 1’32″312 at an average of 241.827 km/h 2. Carlos Sainz (Esp) Ferrari 1’32″410 2nd row 3. Pierre Gasly (Fra) Alpine 1″ 32″664 4. Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1″32″783 3rd row 5. Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1″32″797 6. Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren 1″33″008 4th row 7. Yuki Tsunoda (Jpn) Racing Bulls 1″33″029 8. Oscar Piastri (Aus) McLaren 1″ 33″033 5th row 9. Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Haas 1″33″062 10. Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes 1’48″106 6th row 11. Esteban Ocon (Fra) Alpine 1″33″221 12. Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas 1’33″297 7th row 13. Zhou Guanyu (Chi) Kick Sauber 1’33″566 14. Franco Colapinto (Arg) Williams 1’33″749 8th row 15. Liam Lawson (Nzl) Racing Bulls 1’34″257 16. Sergio Perez (Mex) Red Bull 1’34″155 9th row 17. Fernando Alonso (Esp) Aston Martin 1’34″258 18. Alexander Albon ( Tha) Williams 1’34″425 10th row 19. Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Kick Sauber 1’34″430 20. Lance Stroll (Can) Aston Martin 1’34″484