LAS VEGAS — Lando Norris claimed pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix during qualifying on Friday night.
The McLaren driver and Formula 1 championship leader mastered wet conditions to finish ahead of Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz, while title rival Oscar Piastri settled for fifth.
It was the third consecutive pole for Norris, whose lap of 1 minute and 47.934 seconds was nearly three-tenths faster than Verstappen during a qualifying session which remained wet throughout.
“It was stressful, stressful as hell! I didn’t know no-one else was going to get a lap after me,” said Norris. “I felt like the first two sectors were good but it’s so slippery out there. As soon as you hit the curb a little bit wrong like I did, you snap one way, you lose the car the other way, close to hitting the wall but good enough for P1 today.
“Not the nicest of conditions but I’m happy it stopped raining and we could get a good qualifying.”
Verstappen was second.
”I think we executed qualifying quite well today,” Verstappen said. “The conditions weren’t fun, it was really slippery on the track and it felt like driving on ice. I love driving in the wet but this was too much and you had to be super careful. It was very low grip and you had to be consistent and make no mistakes, but you just trust your instinct and feeling within the car and need to trust what you are doing.
“Despite this, we maximized the potential of the car and we did everything as best we could, so that was all positive.”
Williams’ Sainz put in another strong performance and finished ahead of George Russell, the Mercedes driver having topped both Q1 and Q2 sessions in the worst of the conditions.
