Las Vegas Qualifying: Tough session sees Lando Norris prevail to battle Max Verstappen off the line in tomorrow’s race

In what was a wet and wild session, Lando Norris would once again prevail and secure pole position, while others like Pierre Gasly and Fernando Alonso would excel in the rainy conditions.

(Image credits to @F1 on X)

Heading into qualifying, McLaren driver Lando Norris found himself in a position to take complete control of the Drivers’ Championship. Despite the pressure shifting firmly onto his shoulders, he nonetheless took full advantage and put himself on pole heading into the Las Vegas Grand Prix. 

Norris also finds himself a spot ahead of Max Verstappen and four ahead of his teammate and immediate championship rival Oscar Piastri.

And while the result - a Lando Norris pole position - will seem normal, the path was anything but. 

The first round of qualifying could be summarised as a direct mathematical relationship - as x increases, y increases.

Safe to say, as the wetness of the track increased, the chaos (albeit at a slower rate) increased. 

Towards the end of the first qualifying session, things gradually descended into chaos. It started with Haas driver Ollie Bearman slowly running into a barrier in a runoff section, however, with no major damage, he was able to get the car back to the pitlane and continue the session. 

(Image credits to @F1 on X)

Williams driver Alex Albon almost instantly followed it up with a gnarly crash into the wall, destroying the right side of his car’s wing and front suspension. Like with Ollie Bearman, Albon was able to get the car back to the pitlane; while the Williams mechanics were seemingly working on the wing at the end of the session, their work was ultimately small potatoes as Albon would soon be eliminated from qualifying. 

It wasn’t just Alex Albon and Ollie Bearman. Drivers were consistently impacted by yellow flags appearing, grip issues appearing, and the occasional hockey joke by McLaren CEO and noted Los Angeles Kings fan Zak Brown appearing (ok not really but still). From Charles Leclerc to Max Verstappen, aquaplaning was also a significant issue in the first round of qualifying. It was the wet track that put Sainz at risk of an investigation after the session for rejoining the track unsafely. This could see him with a penalty for tomorrow's race. 

The final disappointment of the first qualifying session was for the Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton who failed to set his final lap, having not made the checkered flag in time. It is unclear if this was due to poor communication from his team or other reasons. As a result of not setting his last lap, which was when the track would have been at its best, he will start the race tomorrow from P20.

In the end, the first round of qualifying saw Alex Albon, Kimi Antonelli, Gabriel Bortoleto, Yuki Tsunoda, and Lewis Hamilton eliminated in order.

On the positive side, both Aston Martin drivers and Alpine driver Pierre Gasly were some of the big winners of the first round; Aston Martin won the qualifying round via their decision to go on wet tyres right away, compared to the indecisiveness of others, which gained them four seconds on their second laps. 

Round 2 of qualifying would see the drivers line up early, having not lost any performance from cooling tyres since tyre warmers are prohibited from being used on wet tyres.

Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll attempted to use the intermediate tyres, however this would cause him to fall off from a strong first round and would end up being one of the five drivers eliminated in the second round of qualifying. 

Elsewhere, even though the track started drying up, the sliding still continued. Franco Colapinto was an unfortunate victim of the track’s slow drying which caused a massive snap on one of his last few laps and an impressive save which had him remove a hand from the steering wheel. 

Despite the impact of the rainwater, Pierre Gasly continued to excel, earning a third-round appearance courtesy of a last-minute lap that would see Nico Hulkenberg eliminated and Oscar Piastri briefly pushed to the brink.

Alongside Nico Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll, both Haas drivers and Franco Colapinto would find themselves eliminated in the third round of qualifying.  

The third qualifying session saw the pace of the McLaren cars emerge as they and others shifted to the intermediates, though the likes of Racing Bulls and Max Verstappen provided a decent challenge. 

Lando Norris would end up winning pole position; he will line up alongside Max Verstappen to start the race.

His championship rival and teammate, Oscar Piastri, had his last lap interrupted by yellow flags and an off-track moment which ended in the Aussie aborting the lap. It was the same yellow flag that resulted in many drivers not setting a last lap after Norris.

A massive effort from William driver Carlos Sainz saw him place the special Vegas livery car at P3 at the closing of qualifying. As there is an ongoing investigation before the Grand Prix, we must wait and see if this is where he’ll begin tomorrow's race.

Another interesting point to keep your eye on this weekend is the Constructor Championship battle for 6th between Aston Martin, Racing Bulls and Haas. Currently, 12 points separate the three teams with Racing Bulls and Aston Martin looking most competitive after qualifying.  

Racing Bulls will look to extend their advantage for sixth, while Aston Martin find themselves in a favourable position to continue cutting into Racing Bulls’ advantage. 

Final qualifying results

• P1: Lando Norris (McLaren)

• P2: Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

• P3: Carlos Sainz (Williams)

• P4 George Russell (Mercedes)

• P5: Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

• P6: Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)

• P7 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

• P8 Isaac Hadjar (Racing Bulls)

• P9 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

• P10 Piere Gasly (Alpine)

• P11: Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)

• P12: Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

• P13: Esteban Ocon (Haas)

• P14: Ollie Bearman (Haas)

• P15: Franco Colapinto (Alpine)

• P16: Alex Albon (Williams)

• P17: Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

• P18: Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)

• P19: Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)

• P20: Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)

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Article written by Noah Guttman, Olivia Myers

© Noah Guttman, Olivia Myers