Lando Norris ticked off another box in his bid to win the F1 world championship by mastering a wet qualifying session to secure pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
In treacherous conditions on the Strip, Norris saw off Max Verstappen by 0.323 seconds, while Oscar Piastri – Norris’ closest title challenger – could manage only fifth.
Carlos Sainz took third for Williams, one place ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell. Lewis Hamilton’s nightmare debut season for Ferrari took a catastrophic twist after he qualified 20th and last.
Norris leads McLaren team-mate Piastri by 24 points and Verstappen by 49, with 83 points to play for across the concluding three rounds. He will start Saturday’s showbiz race in Nevada in the best position to extend his title advantage with a view to potentially being crowned champion of the world as early as next weekend in Qatar.
Norris won from pole at the past two rounds in Mexico and Brazil, and this was yet another statement performance from the in-form Englishman. He was one second quicker than Piastri in the other McLaren.
“It was stressful as hell,” said Norris. “It is so slippery out there that as soon as you hit the kerb you snap the car but it was good enough for P1.
“I had a nap before qualifying, and I was expecting it to be dry and I woke up and saw it was wet.
“I thought: ‘Oh crap this is not going to well’. It is so easy to crash when it is like this so it is rewarding to be on pole.
“The pace has been good all weekend. I didn’t expect to be as quick as I was in the wet. It is going to be an interesting race with Max up there. Hopefully we can have a good race.”
So too, will Hamilton after his dismal opening campaign in red suffered yet another sobering blow when he finished as the slowest of all 20 drivers.
Hamilton lapped 3.97 seconds slower than George Russell’s pace-setting Mercedes in Q1, and 2.3 seconds adrift of Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc. It marked one of the worst qualifying performance of Hamilton’s 19-season career.
TOP-10 - LAS VEGAS GP QUALIFYING
1. Lando Norris - McLaren
2. Max Verstappen - Red Bull
3. Carlos Sainz - Williams
4. George Russell - Mercedes
5. Oscar Piastri - McLaren
6. Liam Lawson - Racing Bulls
7. Fernando Alonso - Aston Martin
8. Isack Hadjar - Racing Bulls
9. Charles Leclerc - Ferrari
10. Pierre Gasly - Alpine
“I couldn’t get the tyres to work,” said a dejected Hamilton as he drove back to the pits.
The latest chapter in Hamilton’s year to forget arrived 11 days after he was told by Ferrari chairman John Elkann to “talk less and focus more on his driving”.
Outside of his sprint victory at the second round in China, his switch from Mercedes to Ferrari has failed to live up to its blockbuster billing.
He was eliminated in Q2 at the previous fixture in Brazil, and then crashed into the back of Franco Colapinto on the first lap, leaving him with damage which he was forced to retire with.
Hamilton is 66 points behind Leclerc in the standings, and his confidence here – in conditions he so often mastered – appeared shot as he failed to register a lap of any significance.
He has now been out-qualified by Leclerc 17 times this year. The Monegasque will start Saturday’s race from ninth.
Asked for his overriding feeling, Hamilton, 40, said: “I don’t really have an answer. It obviously feels horrible; it doesn’t feel good. I just have to let it go and try and come back tomorrow.
“I have done everything I could possibly do in terms of preparation. I felt like we were quickest after practice, and then you come out in qualifying 20th, and this year is definitely the hardest year.
“We have a quick car. But it will be really hard to come back from last.”
