F1 GP Las Vegas, super Ferrari with Leclerc: pole ahead of Sainz! Verstappen third

Ferrari in pole position with Charles Leclerc in the Las Vegas GP. The Monegasque preceded his teammate Carlos Sainz, who however will be penalized by 10 places due to yesterday’s battery pack change and will therefore leave the front row seat to Dutchman Max Verstappen, third today with his Red Bull. Fourth time for George Russell with Mercedes, fifth for Pierre Gasly with Alpine. Then the Williams of Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant ahead of the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas. Followed by Kevin Magnussen with Haas and Fernando Alonso with Aston Martin. Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez eliminated in Q2 with the 11th and 12th times. McLaren eliminated in Q1 with Lando Norris 16th and Oscar Piastri 19th.

good shape

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Leclerc and Ferrari confirmed the good form shown immediately from the first laps on the new track. The Monegasque constantly improved his times and beat Max Verstappen’s Red Bull quite clearly. However, the first rival was Sainz, who stopped at just 44 thousandths, thus increasing the regrets for the unfair penalty received yesterday after the damage caused by the manhole. The forced change of the battery pack due to force majeure resulted in the Spaniard being penalized in terms of the permitted power unit elements and therefore, in the absence of an exemption from the FIA, Carlos will only start 12th tomorrow. A double shame because the reds have shown that they have a good pace and above all today there was also the elimination of Lewis Hamilton in Q2: for the Cavallino, fighting with Mercedes for second place in the constructors, it would have been an opportunity to earning valuable points.

assaults

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So it will be up to Leclerc above all to try to contain the attacks of Verstappen and above all of George Russell, just behind him in third place. It will certainly be a very interesting start to the race. Having said the good performance of the Williams, in sixth and seventh place with Albon and Sargeant ahead of Bottas’ Alfa Romeo, the other news of the day is the elimination of the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, out in Q1 with 16th and 19th time. The GP starts at 7 on Sunday.

so off we go

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So at the start of the Las Vegas GP:

1. Leclerc (Ferrari) 1’32″726

2. Verstappen (Red Bull) 1’32″770

3. Russell (Mercedes) 1’33″112

4. Gasly (Alpine) 1’33″239

5. Albon (Williams) 1’33″323

6. Sargeant (Williams) 1’33″513

7. Bottas (Alfa Romeo) 1’33″525

8. Magnussen (Haas) 1’33″537

9. Alonso (Aston Martin) 1’33″555

10. Hamilton (Mercedes) 1’33″837

11. Perez (Red Bull) 1’33″855

12. Sainz (Ferrari) 1’32″770

13. Hulkenberg (Haas) 1’33″979

14. Ricciardo (AlphaTauri) 1’34″308

15. Norris (McLaren) 1’34″703

16. Ocon (Alpine) 1’34″834

17. Zhou (Alfa Romeo) 1’34″849

18. Plates (McLaren) 1’34″850

19. Stroll (Aston Martin) 1’34″199

20. Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) 1’36″447

Sainz penalized (10 places) for changing batteries

Stroll penalized (5 places) for failure to respect yellow flags