F1 News: Russell nips Sainz Jr. to win pole for 2024 Las Vegas GP

The Mercedes drivers led every practice session for the 2024 Las Vegas GP on the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, and George Russell came through in qualifying to win the pole with a lap of 1m32.312s.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Russell beat the #55 Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jr. by just 0.098s for his third pole of the 2024 F1 season.

“I feel it is incredible to be back on pole, we’ve been so quick all weekend,” said a happy Russell. “I knew coming into that last Q3 lap it was the one that would count. Just so happy, we have to do some deep diving to find out why we’ve been so quick as it is a real surprise.

“Ultimately you have to put it all on the table sometimes, I knew a clean lap would be enough to secure the front row. We’ve had a few good qualifyings recently but we need to covert that now.”

How ironic that Red Bull turned down taking Sainz to replace Sergio Perez alongside Verstappen in 2025 given Perez once again did not make it out of Q1 – clearly not good enough.

“Very tricky – it was a tough quali,” lamented Sainz.  “A bit closer to pole than what I was expecting, but very happy. I think we are starting in a strong position for tomorrow. We need to stay confident that we can fight at the front, and have a chance at going for the win.”

Getting a big tow, Pierre Gasly was a surprise third fastest for Alpine, 0.352s behind Russell. “Very tricky – it was a tough quali. A bit closer to pole than what I was expecting, but very happy. I think we are starting in a strong position for tomorrow. We need to stay confident that we can fight at the front, and have a chance at going for the win.”

Charles Leclerc was 4th fastest in the #16 Ferrari, 0.471s behind Russell.

Max Verstappen rounded out the top-5 for Red Bull. Despite being so slow down the straights because the team brought the wrong rear wing, Verstappen ended up 0.485s behind Russell.

Lando Norris was sixth, Yuki Tsunoda a brilliant seventh and Oscar Piastri just P8. Nico Hulkenberg shares the fifth row with Lewis Hamilton, who choked on both of his Q3 runs. He will not be a happy driver tonight at a track where the Mercedes was the fastest car.

Colapinto crashes again

You have to feel for Williams, who have had to rebuild that car so, so many times recently. Replays show he clipped the inside of Turn 15, breaking his suspension, which sent him into the walls on the outside of Turn 16.

It follows a Brazilian GP weekend in which he crashed out of qualifying and under the safety car in the race on the same day.

Colapinto skipped the usual post-qualifying media sessions after his Las Vegas crash and is now in doubt for the grand prix on Saturday night.

“During qualifying Franco sustained a significant impact of over 50G, requiring a medical check-up,” a statement from Williams said.

“An impact of this magnitude is obviously significant and severe and he will need to be evaluated again tomorrow before we will know whether he is clear to race.

“Franco’s health is all that matters and we are glad he is otherwise OK.

“We will provide further updates when we can.”

Russell and Sainz side by side at the front – Sainz said Ferrari need the win to try and take as many points from McLaren as possible, Russell has nothing to lose with Mercedes having already secured fourth in the constructors’.

Then Gasly as the wildcard – can he keep others at bay? Verstappen’s race pace wasn’t amazing, but can he keep Norris behind and even secure his title tomorrow?

2024 Las Vegas GP Qualifying Results