Mercedes’ George Russell snatched pole position for the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Russell topped FP3 as Mercedes continued their unexpected dominance around Las Vegas, as the Silver Arrows dominated Qualifying with Russell fastest in Q1 before he survived late Q3 drama to snatch pole.
Qualifying also saw a shock Q1 exit for Red Bull’s Sergio Perez whilst Williams’ difficulties continued with another crash.
FP3
Sauber’s Guanyu Zhou was the first driver out on track but Red Bull’s Perez was the first to post a benchmark time of 1m 41.941 on medium tyres, which he soon lowered to 1m 41.645 ahead of his teammate, Max Verstappen by 0.081 seconds.
Everyone else steadily headed out around the half-hour mark on soft tyres and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri soon set the pace on 1m 35.759, only to be displaced by Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg amongst other drivers.
Mercedes soon asserted their momentum from FP1 and FP2 as Lewis Hamilton went quickest on 1m 34.565, only for George Russell to go 0.090s moments later.
Hamilton however responded with 1m 34.341 to go top but Russell in-turn posted 1m 34.218 to go back top, although he was briefly displaced by Verstappen ahead of his final run which saw him lower the benchmark to 1m 33.570.
Hardly anyone else could beat Russell’s time as the red flags came out with six minutes left, after Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll came to a stop with a power failure but the session resumed with a minute left.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1m 33.570 |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.215 |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.348 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.438 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.567 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.771 |
| 7 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.837 |
| 8 | Franco Colapinto | Williams | + 1.153 |
| 9 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.313 |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.335 |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 1.338 |
| 12 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 1.371 |
| 13 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 1.491 |
| 14 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.890 |
| 15 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 2.368 |
| 16 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | + 2.645 |
| 17 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | + 2.842 |
| 18 | Liam Lawson | RB | + 2.974 |
| 19 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 3.380 |
| 20 | Guanyu Zhou | Sauber | + 3.418 |
Qualifying
Q1
Russell was first out on track as many drivers opted for multiple warm-up laps, except for Bottas who posted 1m 36.820 as the initial benchmark time, which Zhou quickly beat before Piastri set the pace on 1m 34.058.
Once everyone set at least one lap time except Stroll, the elimination zone compromised of; Bottas, Colapinto, Perez, Lawson and Stroll, with the Aston Martin driver only running at the end.
At the checkered flag, Stroll qualified last on his single flying lap behind Bottas, Albon and Alonso who filled grid slots 19-17.
Perez’s Qualifying woes continued as he qualified 16th and missed out on Q2 to RB’s Liam Lawson by 0.068s.
Russell meanwhile topped Q1 with 1m 33.186 ahead of Hamilton and Verstappen.
Q2
Verstappen was first on track but Hamilton set the pace on 1m 33.136 from Piastri by 0.001s, only for Verstappen on his second lap to go quickest with 1m 33.085 but he was soon displaced by Russell on 1m 32.881.
Colapinto, Ocon, Lawson, Zhou and Leclerc found themselves sat in the bottom five after the first round of lap times, but Leclerc on his next lap dropped Gasly into the drop zone.
As the checkered flag fell, Ocon qualified 11th ahead of Magnussen and Zhou whilst Colapinto finished 14th quickest, although the Argentinean suffered a heavy crash on his final lap and Lawson found himself 15th after he aborted his final lap.
Hamilton topped Q2 with 1m 32.567 from Sainz and Russell.
Q3
Following lengthy barrier repairs, Verstappen was the first driver to hit the circuit but it was Piastri who set a benchmark time of 1m 33.522, only for Sainz to lower the benchmark to 1m 33.022 moments later.
Russell continued his strong momentum this weekend as he found 0.211s to put himself on provisional pole with 1m 32.811, ahead of Sainz, Verstappen, Norris, Piastri, Gasly, Hulkenberg, Leclerc and Tsunoda.
Hamilton didn’t set a lap time on his first run following a lock-up.
At the checkered flag, Leclerc then Sainz displaced Russell but the Brit responded to snatch pole position by 0.098s from the Spaniard, whilst Gasly spectacularly put his Alpine third ahead of Leclerc.
Title rivals, Verstappen and Norris found themselves sharing the third row in fifth and sixth, ahead of Tsunoda, Piastri and Hulkenberg whilst Hamilton’s sole flier was deleted due to track limits.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1m 32.312 |
| 2 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.098 |
| 3 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.352 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.471 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.485 |
| 6 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.696 |
| 7 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | + 0.717 |
| 8 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.721 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 0.750 |
| 10 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | No Time |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 1m 33.221 |
| 12 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.076 |
| 13 | Guanyu Zhou | Sauber | + 0.345 |
| 14 | Franco Colapinto | Williams | + 0.528 |
| 15 | Liam Lawson | RB | + 1.036 |
| 16 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 1m 34.155 |
| 17 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.103 |
| 18 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.270 |
| 19 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | + 0.275 |
| 20 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.329 |
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