Written by Maria Fashchevskaya
George Russell secured his pole in Las Vegas in a dominant run so far this weekend. Carlos Sainz sped down the track to P2, as teammate Charles Leclerc followed in P4. In between them finished his flying lap Pierre Gasly, to the little surprise of spectators. Max Verstappen could not mirror the pace of the Mercedes driver and would start from P5.
George Russell sped to pole in a dominant run around the track in Las Vegas. He finished his qualifying in front of Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly, as Driver Championship contenders Max Verstappen and Lando Norris could not reach the same pace of the Mercedes.
Charles Leclerc squeezed himself in between those drivers to sit in P4. Yuki Tsunoda finished his qualifying in P7, as Oscar Piastri, Nico Hulkeberg and Lewis Hamilton held onto the last places of the top ten, respectively.
Mercedes has dominated the free practice sessions in Las Vegas, as Red Bull struggled with their aerodynamics and their rear wing. However, it was yet to be determined if the German team can uphold the pressure and finish in the front rows of qualifying.
Another important thing to note is that Lance Stroll's car suffered an energy recovery system failure in the third free practice. It has still to be determined if the Canadian could go out on track, as the team have been working hard to rebuild the car.
Read here, how qualifying unfolded:
Q1
As qualifying was about to unfold, George Russell was the first to get out on track in Q1. With him were Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon of Alpine, and Franco Colapinto of Williams. Most of the drivers went out on soft tyres.
With twelve minutes to go, Pierre Gasly went first on the board temporarily, with a 1:34.509s on the clock. Till this time, only the Haas drivers and Lance Stroll in his Aston Martin were yet to come out of the pits to have flying laps on the track in Las Vegas.
Both McLaren drivers usurped everyone, gaining both top spots on the board. The Mercedes drivers followed, as Max Verstappen finished his first flying lap with a gap of 0.295s till Oscar Piastri in P1. After the first round of laps, a lot of drivers went into the pits for a possible change of tyres.
With eight minutes to go, Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz, Kevin Magnussen, Nico Hulkenberg, and Lance Stroll were in the elimination zone. Spaniard Sainz finished his lap with a 1:33.484s and pushed Lando Norris in the McLaren from his comfortable second place on the board. Meanwhile, McLaren teammate Piastri beat his own time with a 1:33.450s.
Guanyu Zhou and Valtteri Bottas both set times in the first minutes of Q1 in the Kick Sauber cars. However, they dropped the ladder now and were at risk of elimination, with four minutes to go. If the Haas drivers improved in the coming minutes, at risk would be Liam Lawson in the RB car and Sergio Perez in the Red Bull.
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen had already started to fight for the top spots on the grid, usurping everyone to come first in qualifying, for now. Then there sped Kevin Magnussen – and Nico Hulkeberg – down the track, who finished their flying laps to secure comfortable places in Q2. They usurped Perez and Lawson, putting them into the elimination zone.
At the same time, Zhou improved surprisingly and put his teammate Bottas and Williams' Colapinto in the elimination zone. It was only the second time this season that the Chinese has potentially out qualified his teammate at Kick Sauber.
As the chequered flag was waved, Lewis Hamilton sped through the finish line. He soared Max Verstappen with one tenth of a second, as George Russell followed to usurp the Dutchman in the other Mercedes. Alex Albon was not on a flying lap and dropped out of qualifying, as his last timed lap was deleted for track limits.
Liam Lawson finished his performance in Q1, pushing Red Bull's Sergio Perez out of qualifying. The Mexican complained about the lack of grip, as he pulled into the garage. In the last seconds of Q1, Lance Stroll went out on track, however, still sat in the last place on the grid for tomorrow's qualifying.
Knocked out: Perez, Alonso, Albon, Bottas, Stroll.
Q2
As the second part of qualifying went underway, Max Verstappen was the first driver to go out on track for a new run in qualifying. With eleven minutes to go, Nico Hulkenberg was out on track, too, as he finished his timed lap with a 1:33.273s. Lewis Hamilton pushed him out of his comfortable spot right there, soaring the German with a tenth of a second.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri hold the strong pace of Mercedes, as the Australian finished his flying lap with a gap of 0.001s to Hamilton. Verstappen stepped in between the Papaya boys, as he sped through the finish line.
After the first flying laps, most of the drivers pulled into the pits for a fresher set of tyres. Most of them had soft tyres on. With eight minutes to go, in the elimination zone were Ocon Lawson, Zhou and both Ferrari drivers, who had to set times yet. Franco Colapinto held on, as he was at risk of elimination, too.
George Russell had all best sectors, as he completed his second run around the Las Vegas track. With a 1:32.881s, he improved massively in comparison to other drivers. Lewis Hamilton held onto his teammate, with a gap of 0.084s to Russell at the end of his second run.
Meanwhile, Ferrari escaped the elimination zone, settling in P3 and P6 for Leclerc and Sainz, respectively. With two and a half minutes to go, all the drivers were out on track to secure a Q3-entry in Las Vegas. Traffic ensued already in the second sector, around the corners 13 to 15.
Pierre Gasly, Franco Colapinto, Esteban Ocon, Liam Lawson, and Guanyu Zhou were in the elimination zone, as the chequered flag was waved. Lewis Hamilton sped through the finish line to set the track record in qualifying with a 1:32.567s. Alpine's Gasly secured himself to P4, as Ferrari's Sainz sped through to P2.
Then Franco Colapinto went into the barriers on the inside of the 16th corner and slid down the straight in sector three, bringing out the yellow flags. The Argentinian was the first to crash into the walls. This did hurt Williams, as they had just restored both cars after both drivers crashed at the last race weekend. Thus, drivers could not finish their flying laps to improve.
Knocked out: Ocon, Magnussen, Zhou, Colapinto, Lawson.
Q3
There was a delay, as marshals needed to clear the track of debris before the last part of qualifying unfolded. To look at the drivers who improved to Q3, Yuki Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly and Nico Hulkenberg certainly were the surprising drivers. Both had showed strong pace till now.
With eight minutes to go, the first flying laps were set by the McLaren and Ferrari drivers. Then George Russell soared everyone with a time of 1:32.811s and secured a provisional pole position.
As Russell came back on track after a stop, he complained about being pushed out of the pits too early. He seemed to hope for a clear track to finish his qualifying strong. With two minutes to go, Russell, Sainz and Verstappen occupied the top three positions for the race grid tomorrow.
Lewis Hamilton still did not set a time yet but could not improve much, sitting in P10 on the grid. As the chequered flag was waved, all the drivers were on flying laps. Oscar Piastri improved only to third place and Lando Norris to P2, however, both were dropping in the ladder, as others soared them.
George Russell secured his pole in Las Vegas in a dominant run so far this weekend. Carlos Sainz sped down the track to P2, as teammate Charles Leclerc followed in P4. In between them finished his flying lap, Pierre Gasly, to the little surprise of spectators.
Max Verstappen sat in P5, in front of World Championship contender Lando Norris. They certainly would show us an interesting start in the race tomorrow. Yuki Tsunoda followed in P7, with Oscar Piastri and Nico Hulkenberg hot on his rear wing.
Who will win the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix? Let’s watch and see tomorrow at 6 a.m. BST (10 p.m. track time).
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