The British George Russell captured the power of Mercedes in the Las Vegas GP and will start this Sunday from the pole position by exceeding the time of the Spanish Carlos Sainzwhich seconds before had set a stratospheric time to threaten the dominance of English, which, however, still improved on its second attempt.
Russell set a time of 1:32.312 with which he destroyed the other competitors in a classification in which only Sainz could approach the level of the British, while not even the Mexican ‘Checo’ Pérez, tenth sixth, nor Fernando Alonsoseventeenth, They were able to get past Q1.
For his part, the Dutch Max Verstappenleader of the World Cup and who only needs to equal or even lose two points with respect to the British Lando Norris to crown As world champion for the fourth time, he will start fifth, one position ahead of Norris.
However, the big surprise of the day was the third position of the Frenchman Pierre Gasly, who will start third and ahead of the Monegasque Charles Leclerc, after a ‘quali’ marked by the accident of the Argentine Franco Colapinto, who crashed at the start of turn 16 in the final seconds of Q2 when he touched the inside left wall, although he was able to get out on his own two feet.
One more from Mercedes
Mercedes had dominated the three free practice sessions and it only remained to be seen if it could do the same in a ‘quali’ in which neither Ferrari, McLaren nor Max Verstappen were going to save anything, after being hunkered down all weekend.
Although at the beginning of the weekend the protagonist was the Dutchman, who could be crowned world champion this Sunday, the great references of these last two days had been the British Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
Hamilton had set the best time in the first two sessions, while the third free session had been for Russell, a superiority that they also showed in the first two rounds of the ‘quali’, although Norris, Verstappen, Leclerc or Sainz They didn’t sign that starting grid so quickly.
But despite everything, George Russell’s first time in Q3 already confirmed the predictions. With a 1:32.8, he was two tenths ahead of Sainz, who until that moment had led, and even so, the Briton wanted to go out for more, because he had touched the wall in turn 5, losing a few thousandths.
The ease of warming up the Mercedes tires and also finding some grip on the cold Las Vegas track, where they roll at 10 p.m. local time, allowed the British team to have a competitive advantage over the other teams. , especially with respect to Verstappen, who had not found his rhythm, but he wanted to get his fourth World Cup in a row on track.
However, on the second attempt, Leclerc improved his time and took first, although that lead barely lasted a few seconds, the same ones that were enough for Sainz to destroy the partials and rise to a momentary first position waiting for Russell.
However, the Briton, like Mercedes throughout the weekend, He gave no option and exceeded the time of the Madrid native by 98 thousandths, after performing a pinpoint drive that allowed him to take pole position and also surpass Hamilton, who despite his good times during the weekend, fought with the car and finished tenth, not having a single good attempt in the race. Q3.
He also did not have a good ‘quali’ Checo Pérez was barely able to pass the sixteenth position in Q1, a situation that makes things very complicated for the Austrian team to qualify for the Constructors’ World Championship, in which they are currently third thanks to the effectiveness of Verstappen.
It was even worse for Alonso, who finished seventeenth, one position behind ‘Checo’ and just two tenths away from making the cut. The Asturian aborted his second and last attempt after a very bad first sector that made him lift his foot and settle for seventeenth place. after the reversal of Aston Martin in recent weeks.