Lando Norris braved dangerous wet conditions to take pole position at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, taking him even closer to the F1 world title.
A downpour before qualifying completely flooded the already slippery Las Vegas Strip circuit, and the rain continued into the first knockout session, but Norris, who was fitted with intermediate tires on the dry surface of Q3, eventually took the lead when it mattered most.
McLaren teammate and main title rival Oscar Piastri remained in fifth place.
Pole position changed hands three times after the checkered flag, with Williams’ Carlos Sainz then Red Bull’s Max Verstappen briefly taking the lead, but despite the McLaren’s wide slide at the final corner, the superb Norris was able to beat the latter’s time by 0.323 seconds at 1:47.934.
“It was stressful, really stressful!” a relieved Norris said afterward.
Verstappen was second, ahead of the impressive Sainz, who was investigated for a suspected rules violation after the session and no further action was taken, followed by Mercedes’ George Russell in fourth, followed by Piastri, who was threatened by a yellow flag on the final run.
In the championship, Piastri trails Norris with 24 points, followed by Verstappen with 49 points.
After Sunday’s race on the Las Vegas Strip, only 58 points will be up for grabs in the final two events of the season over the next two weeks.
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Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton finished last in Q1 of the Las Vegas Grand Prix and was eliminated.
Lewis Hamilton finished last in 20th place, improving on his lowest finish in his troubled first season with Ferrari, as the seven-time champion struggled to find grip in a particularly dangerous Q1.
It was the first time in the Briton’s 19-year F1 career that he had qualified last on outright pace.
Hamilton was joined in the early eliminations by Williams’ Alex Albon, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, who crashed into the wall at the end of the final lap and broke his suspension.
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Alex Albon and Olly Bearman crashed into the wall in Q1 of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
With Charles Leclerc, the only remaining Ferrari in Q3, only finishing in ninth place, Racing Bulls took advantage of the efforts of the teams higher up on the grid, with Liam Lawson finishing sixth and Isaac Hajjar eighth.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso put in a strong early Q1 performance with both cars to finish seventh, while Pierre Gasly continued his excellent weekend so far with his Alpine in 10th.
Norris finds something special after winning pole position for third year in a row
Having won the previous two weeks in Mexico and Brazil and taken control of the world title race with three races remaining, Norris provided further evidence in Saturday’s Q3 that he had found another gear in his performance during the decisive week of the season.
The streets of Sin City have been unfavorable to McLaren for the first two years of the race on the calendar, with no driver qualifying or finishing higher than sixth, but Norris suggested on Friday it might be a more competitive proposition this time around as he took the lead in a chaotic but dry second practice session.
The heavy rain that fell before qualifying didn’t seem to work in the team’s favor at first, with Norris, who was in the worst conditions in Q1, only finishing 13th.
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Watch as Lando Norris takes his third consecutive pole position in Las Vegas.
However, as the track started to dry out in Q2, he finished fourth, and then put on intermediate tires and entered the pole shootout, making him an easy winner.
Norris beat Verstappen’s then-benchmark time by a whopping 0.9 seconds in the first two sectors of the final lap, but the rear of his McLaren suddenly gave way just after going over the curb at Turn 15, necessitating a steering wheel correction, leaving Norris wondering if he had done enough to finally cross the line and then head to the grid.
“Oh! No one else got the lap, or what?” a surprised Norris asked over the team radio when he was told by the race engineer that the pole was his.
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Lando Norris was satisfied with his McLaren’s pole position at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The British player said in an interview after the session. “I knew the first two sectors were good, it’s very slippery there. As soon as you hit the curb a little bit wrongly, like I did, you snap to one side and lose the car to the other. You almost hit the wall!”
“It’s good enough for P1. It wasn’t the best conditions, but I’m glad the rain stopped and I was able to have a good qualifying.”
Piastri finished one second behind fourth, but the Australian was forced to slow down after Leclerc, who was running in front of him, was shown a yellow flag.
What went wrong for Hamilton in 20th place?
Las Vegas was where Hamilton last finished on the podium in F1 12 months and 24 races ago, but his slowest time in Q1 all but ended any chance of a repeat.
The Ferrari driver’s weekend started well with mainly cool and dry practice conditions, but his pace dropped significantly in Q1 on extreme wet tires.
“The first set of tires obviously didn’t help us, we just struggled to generate heat inside the tires for some reason,” he said.
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Anthony Davidson was on Skypad analyzing why Lewis Hamilton aborted his final qualifying lap before Jenson Button and Bernie Collins discussed what happened.
“It’s a shame because the guys did such a great job. In third place the car felt great and I really, really felt we had good pace, but then obviously the rain started coming down. To be honest, there’s not much to say from there.”
A yellow flag in the final sector forced him to slow down at the end of the last timed lap, but as he crossed the line and saw a red light, Hamilton thought he had run out of time to make another attack. However, the official timing screen showed that he had actually arrived at the last minute line and would have been free to push without returning to the pits.
When asked what happened amid the apparent confusion, Hamilton said, “There was a yellow flag going into (Turn) 17 so when I got on the lift and came to the line it was red.”
He later added, “I don’t think it made much of a difference because I didn’t have any grip anyway.”
Sky Sports F1 Las Vegas GP Schedule
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Take a look back at some of the most dramatic moments that happened at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Sunday, November 23rd
12:15am: F1 Academy Race 2
2:30am: Grand Prix Sunday: Las Vegas GP Build-up*
4am: Las Vegas Grand Prix*
6am: Checkered flag: Las Vegas Grand Prix reaction*
7am: Ted’s Notes*
*The main event will also be broadcast live on Sky Sports
F1’s thrilling title race continues with this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports now – cancel anytime with no contract
