By Robert Haile
Formula One returned to Las Vegas and has lived up to the city’s reputation for putting in a show, though not all good.
After a difficult free practice for Ferrari that left Carlos Sainz with extensive damage due to a loose drain cover on the street circuit and a ten place penalty for the replacement parts.
It could be a weekend of what if for the scarlet team as Charles Leclerc and Sainz locked in a front row performance as the other top performers struggled.
Though this does set it up to be potentially one of the best races of the season throughout the entire field.
Pole sitter Leclerc said: “I did not expect to take pole position today. After FP3, it seemed as though we were on the back foot but once we put it all together in Q3, it went well.
“I’m already focusing on the race though, because we want to convert this pole into a win. Our pace has been good so far here this weekend, so let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”
Unusually for the second race in a row Max Verstappen was unable to improve on his first lap and had to settle for third with George Russell only 0.008 behind him in fourth.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly contributed to the surprises with a fifth as Williams made it into the top ten as Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant took sixth and seventh and a fully dressed Valtteri Bottas, check out the charity calendar, finished eighth for Alfa Romeo.
In a good qualification for the American fans Haas were ninth with Kevin Magnussen and Fernando Alonso ended up tenth for Aston Martin.
The top ten will be looking over their shoulders as Lewis Hamilton finished eleventh and Sergio Perez twelfth, the pair know how to rebuild races from poor qualifying positions.
Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas is in thirteenth with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll fourteenth but dropping five places for overtaking under a hello flag in practice and Daniel Ricciardo is fifteenth for AlphaTauri.
In the first session of qualifying McLaren’s form seems to have plummeted off a cliff with Lando Norris in sixteenth and Oscar Piastri in nineteenth.
Esteban Ocon was unable to match his teammates performance and finished in seventeenth for Alpine with Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu in eighteenth and Yuki Tsunoda suffering a torrid qualifying for AlphaTauri in twentieth.
The Grand Prix race starts at 6 am GMT on Sunday, November 19.
Las Vegas Grand Prix Qualifying
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)*
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- George Russell (Mercedes)
- Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
- Alex Albon (Williams)
- Logan Sargeant (Williams)
- Vallteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)
- Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
- Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
- Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
- Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)*
- Daniel Ricciardo (AlphaTauri)
- Lando Norris (McLaren)
- Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
- Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo)
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
- Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)
*Sainz has a ten place grid penalty for replacement parts outside of seasons allowance and Stroll drops five for overtaking under a yellow flag in practice
THE HERDWICK NEWS 