Leclerc takes Las Vegas pole, shockers for Hamilton, Perez and McLaren
Leclerc was fastest in all three sessions in a commanding performance around the new Las Vegas street circuit, though he ended up only 0.044s ahead of Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz.
Sainz, however, will drop to P12 on the grid after he was given a 10-place grid penalty for changes to his car after it was badly damaged by a loose drain cover that caused chaos on the first day of running.
Instead, it will be Max Verstappen who will join Leclerc on the front row of the grid for Saturday night’s race in Sin City, with the Red Bull driver ending up 0.378s adrift after abandoning his final run of Q3.
Mercedes’ George Russell was fourth-fastest and just 0.386s off pole, while Alpine’s Pierre Gasly took a strong fifth.
Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant took advantage of Williams’ impressive straightline speed to claim sixth and seventh in just the team’s second double Q3 appearance of 2023.
Valtteri Bottas was eighth in his Alfa Romeo, while Kevin Magnussen and Fernando Alonso completed the top-10 order for Haas and Aston Martin.
Lewis Hamilton suffered a surprise Q2 elimination in 11th as the seven-time world champion admitted he simply “couldn’t go faster” on his second run.
Sergio Perez missed out on Q3 for the ninth time this season after Red Bull curiously opted against completing a second run at the end of Q2 while others improved.
Meanwhile, McLaren endured a shocking qualifying with both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri knocked out in the first part of qualifying.
Norris was a disappointing 16th, while Piastri was 19th and only faster than AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda.
