Heavy rain spiced things up throughout qualifying in Las Vegas, but it was the McLaren of Lando Norris who came out on top.
Q1
A downpour ahead of qualifying provided treacherous conditions for the drivers, but it remained pretty plain sailing for them until the end of Q1, after Bearman would aquaplane into the barrier, fortunately with minimal damage, while a loss of traction for Albon meant he would hit the wall towards the end of his lap, ending any chance he had for getting out of the bottom five.
There were a few names from those in the big teams that failed to make it out of Q1, including Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who simply didn’t have the pace in these conditions.
The other big team drivers that struggled were Tsunoda and Hamilton, each of whom would end up occupying the bottom two places in the leaderboard by the time Q1 finished.
ELIMINATED
16. Alexander Albon – Williams +0.204
17. Andrea Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes +0.298
18. Gabriel Bortoleto – Kick Sauber +0.658
19. Yuki Tsunoda – Red Bull +0.782
20. Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari +1.099
Q2
The conditions remained poor heading into Q2, with drivers having to crawl around the track at certain points even while on the wet tyres. Colapinto had a big snap towards the end of the lap, but would keep his car out of the wall, only to make another mistake on his final lap.
Oscar Piastri was a bit shaky during Q2, and would only finish in 10th position, just missing out on elimination, albeit 6 tenths ahead of Hulkenberg in 11th.
Carlos Sainz was showing the that his Williams had pace in these conditions, finishing Q2 in 3rd, form which would carry over into the final part of qualifying.
ELIMINATED
11. Nico Hulkenberg – Kick Sauber +0.655
12. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin +0.724
13. Esteban Ocon – Haas +0.861
14. Oliver Bearman – Haas +0.968
15. Franco Colapinto – Alpine +1.557
Q3
Conditions had improved to the point of being able to use intermediate tyres by the end of Q3, which made for quite the unpredictable end to the session.
There were three changes for pole position at the end of Q3.
First, Sainz would snatch pole from Norris’ provisional time after the Williams drivers final lap, after that was taken away just moments later by Verstappen, who was just under 4 hundredths quicker.
Then, Norris had managed to build up a gap of nearly 1 second heading into sector 3, but a loss of traction after the final corner almost wiped that advantage away, but he was quick enough to secure pole position by just over 3 tenths in the end.
Norris’ title hopes would’ve also been helped by having gone one second quicker than Piastri, who will start the Grand Prix in 5th place.
Qualifying Results
1. Lando Norris – McLaren 1:47.934
2. Max Verstappen – Red Bull +0.323
3. Carlos Sainz – Williams +0.362
4. George Russell – Mercedes +0.869
5. Oscar Piastri – McLaren +1.027
6. Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls +1.128
7. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin +1.532
8. Isack Hadjar – Racing Bulls +1.620
9. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari +1.938
10. Pierre Gasly – Alpine +3.606
