Lando Norris claimed pole position in the wet qualifying session for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, finishing ahead of Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz. His teammate and title rival, Oscar Piastri, will start fifth after encountering a yellow flag on his final attempt. Here are the key points from Saturday’s action.
Norris strikes again: pole in Las Vegas is his
Lando Norris secured his seventh pole position of the season with a masterful lap in difficult wet track conditions. With a time of 1:47.934, three-tenths faster than Max Verstappen, Norris will start at the front. The British McLaren driver also outperformed his teammate, who could not complete the final attempt and ended up a full second slower.
Norris managed the slippery Las Vegas track perfectly, extracting the maximum performance when it mattered most. This performance reinforces his championship lead and confirms what has been seen in recent races: Norris knows how to make the difference under pressure. Another critical test, however, will come at the race start, when he must manage having Max Verstappen alongside him, a driver with nothing to lose.
Verstappen second, Piastri only fifth: Norris soaring toward the championship?
For Lando Norris, this is the third consecutive pole, following his successes in Mexico and Brazil. In contrast, Oscar Piastri has now recorded his third consecutive fifth-place qualifying. The Australian showed glimpses of pace that matched Norris at times, but on his final lap, he had to lift due to a yellow flag caused by Charles Leclerc, compounded by interference from Isack Hadjar’s Racing Bull, preventing him from completing the lap.
Max Verstappen, meanwhile, recovered after an extremely tricky qualifying start, during which he struggled even to keep the Red Bull on track. Yet, as often happens, the Dutch champion struck at the right moment: on his final attempt with intermediate tires, benefiting from a progressively improving track and better tire temperatures, he extracted the car’s full potential.
Ferrari struggles in the wet: Leclerc off pace, Hamilton last
Las Vegas proved another difficult qualifying for Ferrari. Despite showing good pace in dry practice, the Scuderia could not replicate it in the wet. Lewis Hamilton even finished with the slowest time in Q1, unable to get the tires into the operating window and therefore failing to pass the first cut.
Charles Leclerc showed flashes of speed but never enough to challenge at the front. At the end of qualifying, his disappointment and frustration were evident: the car did not inspire confidence and failed to respond to his wet driving style. The Monegasque will start ninth, almost two seconds slower than Norris’ pole time.
Sainz shines: third on the grid but under investigation
Carlos Sainz delivered a high-level lap in Las Vegas qualifying, surprisingly putting his Williams in third place behind Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. He set a time of 1:48.296, just 39 thousandths off the Dutch champion’s Red Bull.
However, Carlos Sainz is currently under investigation for an unsafe return to the track earlier in the session. This detail could cost him and put his result in question. While waiting for the stewards’ decision, the Spaniard can enjoy the confidence he has found in Williams in the second half of the season, following a very challenging initial adaptation period.
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