lando norris‘ The march towards a first world title continued apace after he took pole position in a wet and dangerous qualifying session at the Las Vegas Grand Prix as teammates. oscar piastri Only a fifth could manage.
Norris improved his final lap in Q3 to set a fastest time of 1:47.934 max verstappen 0.323 seconds in pole position.
Meanwhile, Piastri, who had posted the fastest time during the opening exchanges of Q3, came out in front isaac hadjarRacing Bull was on his final flying lap at Turn 12 and was reduced to fifth at the checkered flag.
With 84 points still to be scored between Saturday night’s Las Vegas Grand Prix and the end of the season, Norris currently leads Piastri at the top of the standings by 24 points and has a 49-point lead over third-place Verstappen.
If all three title contenders finish the race in the same place they started it, Norris will extend his lead over Piastri to 15 points and widen his gap with Verstappen by a further seven, opening up a real possibility of winning the title at next weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix.
carlos saenz It was a surprise third place on the grid for Williams, taking just 0.039 seconds off Verstappen. george russellwho topped the final practice session, finishing fourth ahead of Piastri who was fifth on the grid.
Liam Lawson Will make sixth start for Racing Bulls with Aston Martin fernando alonso In seventh, Hadjar in eighth, Ferrari’s charles leclerc In the ninth and alpine pierre gasly In tenth.
Rain before qualifying significantly reduced the grip levels on the street circuit, leaving all 20 drivers struggling to stay within track limits.
Only Alex Albon and oliver bearman Contact with the barriers was made, but yellow flags were routinely raised for drivers negotiating their way back out of drifted areas.
Nico Hulkenberg He missed out by more than 0.6 seconds in Q3 after conditions progressively improved during Q2 and he set his fastest time with just a few minutes left to run. The Sauber driver will move up to 11th on the grid lance strollAston Martin is 12th, while the Haas driver esteban ocon and Oliver Bearman placed 13th and 14th respectively. Franco Colapinto He could only achieve the 15th fastest time after catching a big slide at the exit of Turn 16 on his final flying lap.
Albon would start the race in 16th after damaging his front wing and front right suspension against the barrier on his final flying lap in Q1. Albon was exiting Turn 16 when he lost the rear of his Williams, suffered a slide and contacted the outside barrier.
Mercedes’ kmy antonelli After struggling to put together a lap at the end of Q1 when conditions were the best, he would start in 17th place, leaving him one place ahead of fellow rookie. gabriel bortoletto In sober. yuki tsunoda Whereas, could only manage 19th fastest time for Red Bull Lewis HamiltonThe disappointing season continued with the slowest time ever – almost four seconds less than the fastest Q1 time set by Russell.
The seven-time world champion said he struggled to get his full wet tires to work during Q1, with it being his worst qualifying result since joining Ferrari at the start of the year.
