Las Vegas GP: Russell takes pole from Sainz and Gasly
11/23/2024 02:35 AM
George Russell delivered an impressive pole position for Mercedes ahead of Ferrari's Carlos Sainz for this weekend's night race in Las Vegas.
Pierre Gasly flew to third for Alpine ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc while title contenders Max Verstappen and Lando Norris had to settle for the third row.
The news wasn't so good for Sergio Perez who missed the first cut leaving the Red Bull in P16; or for Williams' Franco Colapinto who crashed at the end of Q2.
It was time for the late show in Las Vegas with qualifying taking place in the dead of night. Mercedes had proved surprisingly strong so far with George Russell topping FP3 completing a sweep of of practice, but McLaren and Ferrari had run them close and Max Verstappen was on the rise after a difficult first day for Red Bull.
Q1: Mercedes back on top as Perez misses the first cut
Qualifying got underway with soft-shod Alpine pair Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon and Williams' Franco Colapinto keen to get going. Sauber team mates Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu together Verstappen also wasted no time getting out along with McLaren pair Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Soon the times started to come with Gasly going top on a time of 1:34.509s before the McLaren drivers took over, Piastri edging Norris by just 0.03s. Hamilton then clocked in to third, a tenth and a half further back while Verstappen was only fifth, three tenths off on his first run.
Leclerc was next to go top, less than a tenth clear of Piastri, but times were tumbling and no one could feel safe of making the cut at this point. Piastri and Norris reclaimed the top but Carlos Sainz' first run in the Ferrari split the papaya pair in P2.
Russell lowered the benchmark with his next run of 1:33.363s with Leclerc threading the needle to go back to second less than a tenth behind. Haas were late to come out to play, but with less than four minutes remaining both were finally in action: Kevin Magnussen went ninth before Nico Hulkenberg promptly ousted him but no one felt safe with even McLaren breaking out a second set of softs as a precaution.
Verstappen had gone top with his latest run but the Mercedes pair proved their ongoing form this weekend by claiming the top two spots, Russell quickest on 1:33.186s which was four hundredths quicker than Hamilton. Both were a tenth quicker than Verstappen. At the other end, RB's Liam Lawson left it late to scramble to safety in 15th, but Red Bull's Sergio Perez missed the cut along with Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon and Valtteri Bottas whose tean mate Zhou had made it through to Q2.
Lance Stroll was the final driver to be eliminated after Aston Martin had spent the session trying to fix ERS issues on the AMR24 leaving him with just a single Hail Mary attempt to set a time.
Q2: Hamilton keeps Mercedes in charge as Colapinto crashes out
The lights soon went green for the second round to reduce the field further from 15 to 10 cars. Verstappen was first out but went for a second warm-up leaving Russell to take top spot despite running an old set of softs, until Hamilton promptly displaced him with a time of 1:33.136s despite also starting on used tyres.
Soon there were quick times from Piastri (just one thousandth of a second off Hamilton). Verstappen continued to run and moved half a second ahead of Hamilton as both Mercedes pitted for fresh softs. Despite being unable to get a tow on a temporarily quiet track, Russell promptly set two purple sectors to go back to the top with a time of 1:32.881s, Hamilton slotting in to P2 less than a tenth behind.
Leclerc was third while Sainz could only manage sixth for now. At most risk of being bumped out of the top ten were Hulkenberg, Yuki Tsunoda and Magnussen with Gasly, Colapinto and Ocon on the outside looking in with just a minute remaining. Hamilton duly went top by two tenths from Russell on 1:32.567s and Sainz split the Mercedes to go P2 and Gasly powered to fourth ahead of Leclerc and Piastri. Verstappen had been pushed down to seventh but was safety through along with Tsunoda, Norris and Hulkenberg.
Less successful in his bid to make Q3 was Colapinto who turned in too early into turn 15 and clipped the wall, broken suspension sending him into a damaging impact with the outside of turn 16. The accident left wreckage scattered over the circuit like confetti leaving the Williams mechanics facing another long night. The other drivers to fail to make it through to the final round were Ocon, Magnussen (who had been forced to abort his final laps), Zhou and Lawson.
Q3: Russell clinches pole from Sainz as Hamilton slumps to P10 on the grid
There was a lengthy delay while the marshals cleared up the track and repaired the wall. It was after 11pm local time before the final round could get underway. Everyone was eager to get going when the lights went green, Piastri first to set a time of 1:33.520s but promptly ousted from P1 by Norris who in turn was beaten by two tenths by Sainz.
Verstappen went for a second warm-up before moving into P2, and then it was Russell going top on 1:32.811s but Hamilton had to back off after making an error and taking to the run off. Gasly clipped the wall on his initial run, but was still sixth fastest behind the McLarens. After that, all the cars returned to pit lane before making their second and final runs of the night.
Piastri was first to start his flying lap, with Norris behind and then Leclerc. There was a plaintive radio message from Hamilton saying he had lost the rear consigning the Mercedes to tenth, but success for Russell as he left it late to set a time of 1:32.312s to go a tenth ahead of a mighty effort from Sainz. Gasly's final lap was impressive putting him P3 on the grid alongside an improved Leclerc. That left Verstappen fifth with Norris next to him on the grid ahead of Tsunoda, Piastri and Hulkenberg.
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