George Russell speeds to pole at Las Vegas Grand Prix
George Russell claimed his third pole position of the year for Saturday's Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Russell, representing Mercedes, overcame a scrape with the Turn 5 barrier on his initial lap in Q3 on Friday to post a leading qualifying time of 1 minute 32.312 seconds. He narrowly edged out Ferrari's Carlos Sanz (1:32.410) and Alpine's Pierre Gasly (1:32.664).
\"In the end, you have to take risks sometimes,\" Russell stated. \"I had confidence in myself -- I knew that if I executed a clean lap, it would be enough to secure a front row spot, so to get pole position is amazing. Ultimately, we've had a few strong qualifying performances recently -- now we need to turn that into a victory.\"
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Sainz was content with his close finish considering the chilly conditions.
\"It was a tight qualifying session,\" Sainz remarked. \"I'm a bit closer to pole than I was anticipating, to be honest.\"
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc (1:32.783) took fourth place in qualifying.
Dutch driver Max Verstappen (1:32.797), who triumphed in the Las Vegas race in 2023, secured fifth place in qualifying, just ahead of his rival Lando Norris (1:33.008).
Verstappen, who is aiming for his fourth consecutive title, leads McLaren's Norris by 62 points with three races remaining. Verstappen must finish ahead of Norris in order to secure the championship.
Williams rookie Franco Colapinto of Argentina finished 14th after crashing at the exit of Turn 16, causing a delay of over 20 minutes in the race.
