George Russell claims Las Vegas F1 GP pole for Mercedes with Max Verstappen fifth

George Russell claimed pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix with a superb lap around the city streets, narrowly beating Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz into second place. With the title fight potentially to be decided in Las Vegas, Max Verstappen started fifth, ahead of his nearest rival Lando Norris in sixth. In a hard-fought session, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly finished an excellent third, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc fourth and Yuki Tsunoda seventh for RB.

The result leaves Verstappen still in position to claim his fourth consecutive world championship in Saturday’s race and take the title with two rounds remaining in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Verstappen leads Norris by 62 points and would need to be 60 points ahead after Saturday’s GP to claim the championship. Any finish for Norris would be enough to clinch the title, while the British driver must beat Verstappen by three points or more in Las Vegas to avoid taking the title and keeping the battle alive until the next round in Doha.

After a delay in running when Franco Colapinto crashed his Williams in Q2, the final session started with Norris setting the early pace with a lap of 1 minute 33.237 seconds, ahead of Piastri. Sainz then went faster, while Verstappen set the second fastest time, but the Mercedes flew as Russell took first place, two tenths ahead of Sainz. However, Lewis Hamilton had to abandon his first run after getting stuck.

With the track becoming increasingly rubbery and grip building, the final laps were crucial and Russell demanded to go out as late as possible and was eliminated last. Hamilton had no luck, losing the rear and going wide into turn three and could not get better than 10th. Sainz improved to take first place, but only briefly when Russell set an even better lap, of 1 minute 32.31 seconds, with a beautiful run, a tenth ahead of Sainz.

This is Mercedes’ third pole this season after Russell also took first place in Canada and then at Silverstone. It follows Russell’s win in Austria and Hamilton’s in the British GP and Spa, and indicates the team has a real chance of finishing fourth, a figure they have not achieved since the 2021 season.

It is Russell’s first pole in Las Vegas and the fourth of his career. He was disappointed not to be able to convert pole into victory at Canada and Silverstone and to be disqualified from victory at Spa after his car was discovered to be underweight. He will be determined to perform flawlessly on Sunday and claim his third F1 victory. Given the form the car has shown in the cool Las Vegas temperatures, it is in a strong position to make the most of it.

Oscar Piastri finished eighth for McLaren and Nico Hülkenberg ninth for Haas. Colapinto suffered a major impact with the wall at the penultimate corner, suffering serious damage and ending Q2, but was unscathed and finished 14th. The final session was postponed while the wall was checked and the track cleared of debris. Esteban Ocon was 11th for Alpine, Kevin Magnussen 12th for Haas, Guanyu Zhou 13th for Sauber and Liam Lawson 15th for RB.

Sergio Pérez’s woes continued, with the Mexican eliminated in 15th place in Q1. Fernando Alonso finished 14th for Aston Martin. His teammate Lance Stroll suffered an energy recovery system failure during final practice and was only able to participate in qualifying for one hot lap, but could only manage 20th place. Alex Albon finished 18th for Williams and Valtteri Bottas 19th for Sauber, but with a five-place grid penalty due to an engine change he will start from the back of the grid.

General Motors’ attempt to enter Formula 1 as the eleventh team on the grid is said to have reached an advanced stage during the LA Vegas GP weekend. The team’s acceptance to participate in the sport in 2026 could be officially announced as early as next week. GM had worked with the Andretti team as part of their failed attempts to gain a place as F1 felt they would not be competitive enough. But now that the bid has been reimagined as a GM factory team, including building their own engine by 2028 and possibly under the Cadillac brand, it appears F1 sees it as a strong commercial prospect.