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Charles Leclerc stole the show during qualifying for the Las Vegas GP and took first place
Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez were eliminated in the second session
Lando Norris and McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri were in the bottom five
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Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took a historic pole position for the first Las Vegas Grand Prix.
A day after the farce of training was halted, the Ferrari man set the pace in the final staged qualifying session in memory, which took place between midnight and 1am local time on Saturday morning.
Although the evening’s program was boring, it avoided the chaos of the night before, when fans were sent home after seeing just eight minutes of action. Manhole covers had to be repaired and the first session was cancelled. The delayed second session lasted from 2.30am to 4am – a ridiculous schedule that damaged Formula 1’s hopes of breaking into the traditionally reluctant American market.
In this weekend for the Owls, Leclerc finished 0.44 seconds ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz, while World Champion Max Verstappen finished third in front of an estimated 90,000 fans who enjoyed the action on Sin City’s famous Strip with its famous hotel landmarks such as the Bellagio, Caesars Palace and MGM Grand.
Lewis Hamilton had a bad evening and qualified eleventh, after finishing in a crushing eighth place, 63 seconds behind winner Verstappen, the last time in Brazil. The Briton’s Mercedes teammate, George Russell, finished fourth on the 6.8 kilometer circuit.
Charles Leclerc finished on pole position and set the fastest time during a crazy weekend
Carlos Sainz finished second in qualifying, but will start twelfth after his ten-place grid penalty
Lewis Hamilton was eliminated in Q2 with the eleventh fastest time, although teammate George Russell eventually recorded the fourth fastest time
Sergio Perez’s problems continued as he failed to reach Q3 for the ninth time this season
Lando Norris was eliminated in Q1, only 16th on a disappointing day for McLaren, which also saw their Australian rookie Oscar Piastri qualify last.
The orange team has been impressive in recent weeks, but the new street circuit, with its three long straights and slow corners, was clearly not conducive to the composition of their cars.
“Very disappointed,” admitted McLaren team boss Zak Brown. ‘We thought we would have a hard time this weekend, but I didn’t expect both cars to come out in Q1.
‘Not a good start to the weekend and now we can only concentrate on tomorrow’s race.’