Las Vegas Grand Prix Qualifying: Russell from Sainz, Gasly stars
F1 NewsSaturday, 23 November 2024 at 08:29
George Russell took pole for the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix, beating Carlos Sainz by a slight margin while Pierre Gasly delivered a great performance to take third for Alpine.
Thus, Russell delivered on the promise Mercedes showed in Las Vegas since the start of the weekend, and took his fourth Formula 1 career pole position.
However, it was a stark contrast for the other Mercedes driver, Lewis Hamilton, who was only tenth in the #44 W15 after bailing out on his banker lap in Q3 following a lockup and then lost control on his final lap and was only tenth.
After also qualifying second fastest in Las Vegas last year, Carlos Sainz took another second place this time around, but unlike 2023 where he had to serve a grid penalty for taking a new power unit after driving over a loose drain cover in practice, this time he gets to keep second.
But credit goes to Pierre Gasly who delivered the third fastest lap of Q3 out of the blue apparently still enjoying the boost of Alpine's double podium in Sao Paulo.
Charles Leclerc was fourth fastest in the sister Ferrari and he had a scruffy Q3, making a mistake on his banker lap and not recovering in his final attempt.
Max Verstappen could not manage better that fifth in his draggy RB20 and was clearly losing out on the long straights, especially as he could not count on a tow from his teammate, Sergio Perez who was knocked out of qualifying in Q1.
But at least the reigning F1 champion managed to outqualify his title rival, Lando Norris who was sixth fastest in the McLaren.
It has to be disappointing for McLaren to be this much behind especially as they appeared to be better than Verstappen throughout the three free practice sessions, but the Dutchman yet again simply did what he needed to do to limit the damage.
Yuki Tsunoda was a superb seventh in the VCARB ahead of a disappointing Oscar Piastri who was only food for eighth.
Nico Hulkenberg, once again, was solid to take the ninth grid slot ahead of Hamilton.
What the top three said
"It is incredible to be back on pole," and elated Russell said said in parc ferme. "We have been so quick all weekend
"I knew coming into that last Q3 lap, that would be the one that counts, it doesn't matter what happened before then.
"I had a bit of a moment on my first run. We had to change my front wing. There was a moment I thought we wouldn't make the flag.
"We have to do some deep diving to understand why we have been so quick this weekend because it was a real surprise," he admitted.
"Very tricky. That was a tough, tight qualy," second-placed Sainz commented. "A bit closer to pole than I was expecting. Actually, I thought I had pole but then George came very, very quick at the end, but very happy.
"We are starting in a good position for tomorrow. P2 last year but 12th on the grid because of the famous drain cover. This year I start P2 so hopefully we can make a better one.
"We need to stay confident that tomorrow we can be fighting at the front even more than today. So if today we were close in qualy tomorrow we might have a chance at going for the win and that will be the target.
"Obviously passing and strategy will be a different thing tomorrow. I feel like today Mercedes were very good at switching those tyres on," the Ferrari driver pointed out.
"If you see in sector one they were flying, they were three tenths up on us, and we were coming back as the lap was going on. But tomorrow is a clean sheet, new start and we'll see how the car is going on high fuel.
"I honestly think we need wins to beat McLaren [to the Constructors' Championship]. So we need to win," Sainz concluded.
As for Gasly, he trumpeted: "It's unbelievable. We didn't think we would achieve a top three in qualifying. But it was an incredible lap, especially around this track you are flirting with the walls everywhere through the lap.
"A lot of adrenaline and excitement. I knew crossing the line it was a good lap. When they came up on the radio we were third, it's just amazing. Really happy.
"The car felt great. It's an incredible period for the team after the double podium in Brazil. Hopefully we can stay up there tomorrow," the Frenchman concluded.
Q1: Perez out yet again!
Temperatures dropped again between the final free practice and qualifying down to 15 degrees Celsius for the track while air temperature was at 12 degrees.
The drivers did not waste any time heading out on track to start the top 15 shootout with Gasly the first driver to start a flying lap.
His teammate, Esteban Ocon was instructed to weave down into Turn 5 in order to build up the temperature in the tyres.
Lance Stroll remained in the Aston Martin garage as the team worked on fixing his AMR24 that suffered from an energy store failure in FP3.
With less than ten minutes remaining, and after having McLaren in the lead, Leclerc topped the timing screens with Piastri and Norris behind him while Hamilton was in fourth not yet showing the form Mercedes had in practice. Russell was seventh.
The drivers went on banging in the laps as the session went on, with times improving and the order was continuously changing up in the top.
At the end of Q1, Russell led the way with a lap time of 1:33.186, 0.039s clear of Hamilton in second while Verstappen was 0.113s off the pace in third.
Once again, Perez made the headline for the wrong reasons as he was knocked out from Q1, losing out to his nemesis, Liam Lawson, by 0.068s. The Mexican will start the race from 16th.
Fernando Alonso was another big name to exit qualifying early and was 17th fastest in the Aston Martin ahead of Alex Albon in the Williams, who was 18th after losing his best lap time for exceeding track limits.
Valtteri Bottas, who also has a five-place grid penalty for a new energy store, was 19th fastest. He did well though giving a tow to Zhou Guanyu who was 14th and made Q2.
Stroll who took part in Q1 quite late as his car was being repaired managed 20th after one flying lap.
Q2: Pain for Williams
Without wasting any time, the remaining 15 drivers were out on track putting in their banker laps as Russell went fastest only to be bettered by Hulkenberg and then by Hamilton.
Norris then went second fastest behind Hamilton and then drops to third as Verstappen went fastest only to be beaten by Piastri who took second.
With nine minutes remaining, the Ferraris joined the action with Sainz starting a timed lap while Leclerc was still on his out lap. Leclerc was 14th and Sainz 15th after their first runs.
Verstappen went fastest with less than six minutes remaining but then Russell shot to the top as Hamilton went second fastest dropping the #1 Red Bull to third.
Sainz managed fifth after a second lap while Leclerc took third in his second attempt dropping Verstappen to fourth.
Order with four minutes remaining: Russell - Hamilton - Leclerc - Verstappen - Piastri - Sainz - Norris - Hulkenberg - Tsunoda - Kevin Magnussen.
Soon the second runs were on and in the end of Q2, it was Hamilton who went fastest, 0.144s faster than Sainz in second while Russell was third in the sister Mercedes.
But in the dying moments of the session, Franco Colapinto crashed as he was trying to make it into Q3 in a final lap and crashed heavily after clipping the wall at Turn 15 with his front left wheel breaking the suspension and was sent out of control into the walls at the exit of Turn 16.
A huge crash for Williams who struggled to get two cars on track for the Las Vegas Grand Prix after their crash-marred weekend in Sao Paulo.
As for those who were eliminated in Q2, Esteban Ocon was the first to miss out to Hulkenberg by 0.107s and ending up 11th fastest.
Magnussen was next in the Haas, 12th fastest with Zhou 0.269s behind him in 13th while Colapinto was classified 14th before his crash.
Liam Lawson was 15th fastest in the VCARB , half a second behind Colapinto, while Tsunoda made Q3.
Q3: Russell on pole but Gasly is the star!
The start of Q3 was delayed as the marshals worked on fixing removing the destroyed Williams of Colapinto from the track.
There was also a lot of work to be done on cleaning all the debris the Argentine's crash generated and that was spread over a large area.
With the work done clearing the track, the action resumed for the final stage of qualifying, the top ten shootout for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Piastri set the first lap time and went fastest only for Norris to go even faster while Gasly went third. Sainz after that went fastest while Leclerc was sixth with Hulkenberg in fifth.
Verstappen, Russell, and Hamilton were on track doing their laps. Verstappen went second fastest while Russell went fastest while Hamilton backed out of his lap after locking up into Turn 12 and ending up in the run-off area.
Despite a brush with the wall at Turn 5, Russell was on provisional pole with the rest of the order being: Sainz - Verstappen - Norris - Piastri - Gasly - Hulkenberg - Leclerc - Tsunoda - Hamilton.
Replay also showed Leclerc going out of shape at Turn 7, hence his low position.
With less than five minutes remaining, the second round of Q3 laps was on and when those were done, it was Russell who took pole position by 0.098s from Sainz.
The Spaniard was second fastest in the Ferrari while Gasly delivered a stunning lap to take third in the Alpine, albeit 0.352s off the pace while Leclerc was fourth.
Verstappen was only good for fifth, 0.485s down from pole in his Red Bull, but ahead of Norris in sixth and 0.211s behind his rival.
Tsunoda was seventh fastest, over seven tenths away from Russell's time and 0.004s ahead of Piastri who was eighth fastest in the other McLaren with Hulkenberg ninth in the Haas.
Hamilton, on the other hand, dropped the ball on his second lap as well, as he lost the rear of his car and was only good for tenth.
Report in progress...
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