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Leclerc took the lead at the Las Vegas GP ahead of Sainz and Verstappen.

Charles Leclerc used his strong practice pace to take pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix in a thrilling qualifying session around the new strip circuit, with the Ferrari man ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen from Red Bull.

Leclerc was consistently quick in Saturday morning’s race, clocking 1m 32.726s in the decisive pole vault.
This was half a tenth ahead of Sainz, who dropped 10 places on the grid due to an engine penalty.

Leclerc and Sainz improved in the second round of Q3, but Verstappen couldn’t find the pace and returned to the pits to finish third behind George Russell, the only Mercedes left after Lewis Hamilton retired in Q2.

Several drivers performed in the difficult and cold conditions, including Pierre Gasly driving the Alp to an impressive 5th, Williams teammates Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant in 6th and 7th and Valtteri Bottas finishing 8th with Alfa Romeo.

Kevin Magnussen finished ninth for Haas in Q3, also missing out on Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who joined Hamilton in Q2, while Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso completed the top ten.

UNITED STATES 2023
Qualifying results
POSITION TIME
1 LEC 1:32.726
2 SAI 1:32.770
3 VER 1:33.104
4 RUS 1:33.112
5 GAS 1:33.239

On Hamilton’s exit from Q2, he finished 11th, explaining over the radio through the Mercedes pit wall that there was nothing left in his car.
Although Sainz will at least qualify for the race due to the aforementioned grid penalty.

Perez went down on the final lap of the second stint and had to settle for 12th behind Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg, Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin (who actually dropped five places due to a yellow flag stop ) and Daniel Ricciardo.
Alpha Taurus.

McLaren endured a fearsome session as their latest display on the high-speed streets of Las Vegas was breathtaking.
16th place Lando Norris missed the Q2 time by 0.020 seconds, while Formula 1 debutant Oscar Piastri managed the final spot on the grid in 19th.Location

Esteban Ocon and Zhou Guanyu failed to keep pace with their team-mates, falling at the first hurdle in turns 17 and 18 respectively.

That’s because replays showed the Alpine runner overtook Verstappen in a rare moment in the latter part of the first quarter.

Yuki Tsunoda had a disappointing session in another AlfaTauri.

After finding his one-lap time exceeded the track limits, he misfired on his final lap of the session, finishing 20th on the grid.

AS IT HAPPENED

Q1 Ferrari leads as McLaren runs into trouble.

After experiencing the Las Vegas Strip first hand, it’s time for drivers to push themselves to the limit and battle for the all-important starting position on the city’s famous streets ahead of Saturday night’s race.

As the first quarter began in one of the most dramatic conditions in Formula 1 history, Leclerc set the early pace with a 1m 34.898s before going on to an impressive 1m 34.072s to send a clear message to his rivals.

Meanwhile, trouble was brewing for McLaren. Norris Perez complained of “going out of the way” during his first run on soft tires and teammate Piastri clipped one of the concrete walls but appeared to escape unscathed.
At the halfway point of the session, Leclerc was still leading with an effort of 1min 34sec, half a second ahead of Perez, followed by Hamilton, Norris, Sainz and Verstappen, closely matched in the pack of cars behind the flying leader Ferrari.

At the other end of the clock were Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Gasly, Tsunoda and Russell in the drop zone, meaning they had to dust themselves off and go again as they had exceeded the track limits in the last two lap times.

Another improving run as the final minutes drew to a close saw Leclerc edging out team-mate Sainz by inches in 1m 33.617s, with a high-flying Russell Verstappen and Hulkenberg completing the top three ahead of him Gasly.
And Bottas.

Hamilton and Magnussen finished 8th and 9th respectively in the other Mercedes and Haas cars, the Aston Martin with Alonso and Stroll (the latter under investigation for a further yellow flag offence), the Williams duo of Sargeant and Albon and Pérez with Red Bull and Stroll.
We were together. Ricardo. Alpha Taurus.
Stroll’s last-ditch effort pushed Norris into the drop zone and confirmed an embarrassing double for McLaren. Piastri finished 19th behind Ocon Alpe and Zhou’s Alfa Romeo as the Papaya car struggled for speed.

Ocon was involved in an argument with Verstappen over track position towards the end of the session, shouting on the radio that the reigning world champion was “going into Turn 1 like a madman”, leading to the odd incident in which the Dutchman claimed his rival had -a.
he acted. I went through it.

Like a fool.” In the final race, Tsunoda continued to fall behind, taking a moment at Turn 5, before the Japanese driver threw his head out of the cockpit in frustration as he returned to the AlfaTauri garage.

Substitutes: Norris, Ocon, Zhou, Piastri, Tsunoda.

Q2 – Hamilton and Perez miss pole.

As the remaining cars returned to the circuit in Q2, Alonso briefly took the lead with a best lap of 1.33 seconds before the Mercedes driver took the lead, with Verstappen going fastest by 1.33 seconds .
S. .607. S.

With the Ferrari fitted on soft tyres, Leclerc smashed the fastest time by one second with a time of 1m 32.834, while Sainz finished second, five tenths of a second behind his team-mate.

Another set of laps sent the timing screen into a frenzy of times on purple and green sectors as Leclerc cut his best time by a few hundredths to stay in P1 ahead of Sainz, Russell, the impressive Gasly and Verstappen.

Both Williams drivers qualified for Q3, with Albon moving up to sixth and Sargeant sharing ninth with Alonso and Magnussen. Bottas finished in the top ten and denied former Mercedes teammate Hamilton in dramatic fashion.

Hamilton complained that he “couldn’t go faster” on the incredible track in Q2, but there was another surprise as Perez, watching the final laps from the garage, joined Hulkenberg in 12th.
Walk and Ricardo.

Out: Hamilton, Perez, Hulkenberg, Stroll, Ricardo.

Q3 – Leclerc is too fast for Sainz and Verstappen.

Leclerc held his position in Q3 with a time of 1 minute 33.021 seconds, but Sainz was just 0.022 seconds behind and Verstappen was just 0.083 seconds behind, making it one second back.

When they arrived, Leclerc took it to another level with a time of 1:32.726s, almost a tenth faster than Sainz in his sister Ferrari, while Verstappen completed his final lap and headed for the pits.

Replays showed Verstappen perilously close to one of the concrete walls as Red Bull struggled to keep up with Ferrari’s pace over the weekend and swore on the radio about his lucky escape.
Although P3 ended up P2 thanks to Sainz’s penalty.

As usual, Russell finished fourth in his Mercedes, Gasly fifth in the Alpine and strong performances from Albon and Sargeant secured sixth and seventh on the grid for Williams.

With Hamilton and Perez retiring in Q2, Bottas, Magnussen and Alonso were favored to secure positions from eighth to 10th, while Sainz dropped to 12th due to a power unit penalty.

The main quote

“I’m definitely happy,” said Pole Leclerc.
“First of all, it’s obviously a great event in Las Vegas and it’s great to start on pole tomorrow.

“My hamstring was bad in the third quarter. I didn’t do well, but it was good enough for P1, so that’s all I need.
Everything is now focused on tomorrow and we try to integrate everything into the race.

“We usually miss the most games there, so hopefully we can put it all together and win here.”

What are your future plans?
The drivers will now report to their teams and prepare for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which starts on Saturday night at 22:00 local time.