The Monegasque Ferrari driver will start in first place, his teammate Carlos Sainz is second but due to the sanction he received yesterday he will start in 12th place.
The Monegasque pilot Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) achieved pole today in F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix with an advantage of 44 thousandths over his teammate, the Spaniard Carlos Sainzwho, however, will not be on his starting grid for Sunday’s race as he has a ten-place penalty after the incident he suffered on Friday with the manhole cover on the circuit.
“I’m still angry“said Sainz after qualifying, who saw how for a reason beyond his control and the fault of his team, and the fault of the organization – Formula 1 itself – all his options to fight for victory in Las Vegas went beyond the sea.
In the first Free Practice session of the Grand Prix he went through a sewer and broke the cover of his car, forcing him to change the battery and penalize ten positions, although the stewards themselves admitted that this was due to an external agent.
Sainz showed on Saturday in qualifying that he has the speed to fight for pole first and on Sunday for his second victory of the year – the only non-Red Bull driver to top the podium this season.
The Spaniard finished 44 thousandths behind his teammate Charles Leclerc, who dominated the three practice sessions with a Ferrari that only needed to confirm its speed in the race, where the points were shared.
At the back, due to the sanction on Sainz which would have started him in twelfth place, the Dutchman was placed Max Verstappen (Red bull). The current world champion, and three-time champion, was far from being able to fight for pole and finished 378 thousandths behind Leclerc.
Third is the British George Russell (Mercedes) followed by the surprise of the day, the two Williams, from Thai Alexander Albon and the American Logan Sargent.
To find the other Spanish driver on the grid you have to drop down to tenth place, although he will start ninth due to compatriot Sainz’s suspension.
A Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) who did not improve with new tires in his first attempt, with used ones, in Q3 and who went from occupying fourth place to being overtaken by all his rivals in last round of qualifying.
Pérez and Hamilton, out of the race for pole
Q3 did not feature three of the top five finishers in the drivers’ championship. Mexican Sergio Pérez (Red Bull), second; the British Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), third; and his compatriot Lando Norris (McLaren), fifth.
The driver from Guadalajara was not, due to the team’s strategy, able to ride the track until the end and it ended up being him, leaving him 46 thousandths away from the tenth position.
For his part, Hamilton finished eleventh and was furious on the radio when he sent a message to the team in which he admitted he could do no more than his lap to overtake Valtteti Bottas (Alfa Romeo) who passed him by 28 thousandths.
It plays McLaren with no luck
McLaren’s two cars, British Lando Norris and Australian Oscar Piastri, were left out of the second qualifying session (Q2) and will start 15th and 18th, respectively, after gaining one position each due to earlier penalty of five places to The Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), in Sunday’s race after playing with the choice of tires.
McLaren decided not to use the new soft tyre, as their direct competitors did, thinking they could reserve it for Q2 and Q3, but that was not the case and they were unable to improve their times with the used rubber.
Norris, from being second in Brazil and the main alternative to the undisputed dominance of Verstappen, to the start at the back of the grid in Las Vegas.
A Q1 saw tension between Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Verstappen, with insults on the radio after the Dutchman overtook the Frenchman at Turn 1 with just minutes remaining in the session. Another chapter in a relationship that has been strained since they competed in karting and it even took place at the 2018 Brazilian GP, in
Final classification of the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix
Source: Tycsports
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