Charles Leclerc dominated a qualifying session with several surprises at the Las Vegas GP and secured pole position in the penultimate round of the Formula 1 season. Ferrari was the strongest team on Saturday and placed Carlos Sainz in second, but the Spaniard was penalized for changing power unit components and will not be able to contribute to a fully “Rossa” front row.
Qualifying summary
From Q1, it was clear that Ferrari was superior in Las Vegas. Leclerc led by 0.234s ahead of Sainz, with George Russell (Mercedes) in third, more than half a second behind. The negative surprise was McLaren – which was eliminated right away.
A late improvement by Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) left Lando Norris (McLaren) out, as he was relegated to 16th place. The British driver was only 20 milliseconds behind the last qualifier, Daniel Ricciardo (AlphaTauri). In a disastrous qualifying session for McLaren, Oscar Piastri also failed to advance, finishing in 19th place.
Also out were Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo), and Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), in 17th, 18th, and 20th places respectively. In a rare situation, Williams placed both drivers in Q2.
Ferrari’s dominance continued in Q2, with Leclerc once again leading Sainz… this time by a clear 0.563s. Russell was third again. The big surprises were the eliminations of Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Sergio Pérez (Red Bull).
Unlike his teammate Russell, Hamilton struggled to be fast and failed to qualify for Q3, finishing 11th, 0.028s behind Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo). As for Pérez, in a race where Red Bull is not showing particular competitiveness, he finished 12th, 0.046s off the top ten.
Nico Hülkenberg (Haas), Stroll, and Ricciardo were also eliminated, finishing 13th, 14th, and 15th respectively.
In Q3, Leclerc took the lead with his first attempt, with Sainz and Max Verstappen (Red Bull) close behind. But the decisions were only made in the final moments.
In a cold track, Leclerc only did one warm-up lap, but still managed to set the fastest time: 1m32.726s. On the other hand, Sainz chose to do two warm-up laps… a strategy that proved effective, earning him second place, 0.044s behind – which will be 12th on the starting grid due to a ten-place penalty.
Champion Verstappen ended up being Ferrari’s main opponent, finishing third, 0.378s behind Leclerc. Russell finished with the fourth fastest time, with Pierre Gasly (Alpine) in fifth.
Williams was in the spotlight, with Alexander Albon in sixth and Logan Sargeant signing his best qualification in seventh place – which will be sixth on the grid due to Sainz’s penalty. Completing the top ten fastest were, in this order, Bottas, Kevin Magnussen (Haas), and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin).
Results:
