In Las Vegas, the weather was cool, and an early awakening awaited the "participants," who were primarily interested in finding out whether the advantage Mercedes had shown in the third practice session could be converted into a pole position.
The first few fast laps of Q1 were led by McLaren, then George Russell shone and took the lead. As in practice, Scuderia Ferrari showed strong form, but ultimately the top three places were taken by Mercedes and Max Verstappen. Among those eliminated, as is tradition, were Sergio Pérez, Alexander Albon, Valtteri Bottas, and the two Aston Martins.
Q2 played out similarly to the opening round, with Hamilton, Piastri, and Verstappen in that order, but with a bit of hype, practically anything was up in the air. Mercedes pole position was looking increasingly likely... Hamilton, Sainz, Russell was the order, and just as the segment was about to end, it had to be brought to a halt early due to a nasty crash by Franco Collapinto. A red flag and a wait followed... Along with Collapinto, Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen, Guanyu Zhou, and Liam Lawson did not advance to Q3.
After the opening laps of the delayed Q3, Russell, Sainz, and Verstappen led the field, which was no longer a surprise. It was also no surprise that at the end of the final runs, George Russell took a clear pole position. However, Carlos Sainz's second place and Pierre Gasly's fantastic third place definitely belong in this category. In the end, qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix turned out to be a really good session; we hope this performance carries over into tomorrow's race as well!
