#F1 #Qualifying: @LandoNorris pips @Max33Verstappen to crucial #LasVegasGP pole by 0.323s.

Norris Las Vegas Pole – Championship leader Lando Norris pipped title contender Max Verstappen to a crucial pole position in a damp qualifying session at the Las Vegas GP as Williams’ Carlos Sainz completed the top three. Championship rival Oscar Piastri was fifth in the other McLaren MCL39 entry.

This was Norris’s 16^th-career pole and tomorrow’s race could set a defining moment in the battle for this year’s World Driver’s Championship.

In Q3, the initial flyers saw Leclerc the first to register the benchmark of a 1:52.060 as Norris slotted into second with a 1:55.295 then Piastri pipped his team-mate into second.

Hadjar went fastest on a 1:51.346, which was then beaten by Sainz who set a 1:50.880 to be ahead of the Frenchman by 0.466 seconds.

On the next flyers with the intermediates, Norris took P1 with a 1:49.606, then team-mate Piastri pipped his team-mate with a 1:49.146.

Sainz then jumped to second to be 0.120 seconds off Piastri’s P1 time as Lawson slotted into fourth and 1.010 seconds adrift.

Mercedes’ George Russell with three personal bests went fifth to be 1.122 seconds off Piastri’s benchmark.

Hadjar moved up into fourth, but only briefly as team-mate Lawson moved to third setting a 1:49.367.

Verstappen on his flyer went up into second and a slim 0.085 seconds off Piastri with his 1:49.221 effort.

Championship leader Norris was next and with two purples and a personal best took provisional pole with a 1:48.384 to go 0.752 seconds quicker to team-mate Piastri who then just improved to 0.577 seconds in second to keep a McLaren front-row.

Lawson improved to third over with a 1:49.062 as Sainz blasted to provisional pole with a 1:48.296, which was then beaten by Verstappen’s 1:48.257 with the Dutchman holding provisional pole.

Russell with three personal bests ended up fourth to be 0.869 seconds as Norris took pole position with two purples to set a 1:47.934 to end up 0.323 seconds ahead of Verstappen.

Sainz took third but with a potential penalty for impeding Stroll.

Russell qualified fourth and in-front of other title contender Piastri who took fifth and Lawson who was sixth.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso followed in seventh and ahead of Hadjar who came eighth in the order.

Ferrari’s Leclerc and Alpine’s Gasly rounded out the top ten.

Replays showed Leclerc running off at turn 12 and likewise Piastri done the same on their respective final flying laps.

In the second qualifying stage, which was topped by Russell, the session was slightly delayed due to barrier repairs from Albon’s shunt.

Gasly eliminated Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg on his final flying lap with an improvement to seventh to progress into Q3. The Sauber driver will start the Las Vegas GP 11^th.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll took a gamble on the green-branded intermediates on his last stint, but the Canadian could not get his tyres up to temperature and he ended up 12^th.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team duo Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman qualified in 13^th and 14h respectively whilst Alpine’s Franco Colapinto was the slowest of the Q2 runners in 15^th.

In the opening segment, which was topped by Russell, With a minute remaining Haas’s Bearman suffered a lock-up into the turn 12 run-off and ran into the wall.

With 30 seconds left in the session, Williams’ Alexander Albon hit his front-right tyre and wing into the wall and managed to make it back to the pits as the Thai-Briton driver ended up 16^th.

Replays showed Albon had a snap of oversteer and overcorrected, hitting the wall with his front right tyre.

Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli could not improve and ended up 17^th and in-front of Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto who took 18^th.

Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda and Ferrari’s Sir Lewis Hamilton brought up the rear with the latter aborting his flyer.

Hamilton did make it across the line to start his final lap. The seven-time world champion was struggling with grip, but such were the improvements, drivers going through yellow flag sectors and lifting were still finding gains on their hot-laps.

It sounded like there was some confusion as to whether Hamilton was safe on the radio, and the Ferrari also ran wide over a bollard at one point, which may have gotten stuck under his SF-25 racer which explained his lack of grip.

Sainz is currently under investigation by the stewards for the incident with Stroll where the Spaniard ran wide and returned to the track seemingly in front of the AMR25.

You can see the full Formula 1 Heineken Las Vegas Grand Prix 2025 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2025/races/1274/las-vegas/qualifying

2025 Las Vegas GP Qualifying – The Top Three

2025 Las Vegas GP Pole Position – Lando Norris, #4, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL39 – 1:47.934:

“It was stressful as hell. I didn’t know no one was going to get a lap behind me. Not the nicest of conditions but pleased it stopped raining, and we could get Qualifying done. The team did a good job with the car, and I was napping before Quali and woke up to see the rain and immediately thought this is not going to go well. The pace has been good all weekend, I think it will be good in the dry. But there are a lot of unknowns for tomorrow, no one has done much high fuel running. Hopefully we can enjoy it!”

2^nd Place – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB21 – 1:48.257:

“”It was really slippery out there. It is not fun I can tell you; it took a long time to get the tyres working. To be on the front row is good for us.”

3^rd Place – Carlos Sainz, #55, Atlassian Williams Racing, Mercedes, FW47 – 1:48.296:

“I’m always optimistic, this track suited our car in the dry and from the first lap in Q1, I was really, really quick. On the inters I knew the others would catch up a bit,” the Spaniard says. The US fans love a bit of an underdog, no?!”

2025 F1 World Championship Standings