Formula 1 in Las Vegas
Wild qualification in the rain: Norris narrowly beats Verstappen
Updated 11/22/2025 – 6:41 amReading time: 2 minutes
Qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix is marked by heavy rain. One superstar experiences a shock – another prevails on the wet road.
A show of force from the World Championship leader: Lando Norris has secured pole position at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. The McLaren driver prevailed in qualifying in the US gambling metropolis just ahead of defending champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull), with third place surprisingly going to Carlos Sainz (Williams). Oscar Piastri, in second place in the championship standings between teammate Norris and Verstappen, will start Sunday’s race from fifth place.
For Norris it was the seventh pole of the year and the 16th of his career. “It was incredibly stressful. I didn’t know if anyone would be able to do another lap after me. It’s so slippery and difficult,” said the Briton: “The team did a great job, it tastes particularly sweet and good.” Verstappen, who is still hoping for the world title, said: “It’s no fun in the wet, I normally like that, but here it’s like on ice. It takes longer to get the tires in the window. I just didn’t manage to fight for first place.” Before the 22nd of 24 races of the season on Sunday (from 5 a.m. in the live ticker on t-online), Norris leads the World Cup by 24 points over Piastri and 49 over Verstappen.
For record world champion Lewis Hamilton, the qualifying, which was marked by heavy rain at the beginning, was unfortunate: the 40-year-old was eliminated in the first section. In any case, the race was characterized by the riders wobbling on the rain-soaked track due to the weather conditions. The only German in the field of drivers starts the race from eleventh place: Nico Hülkenberg was eliminated from qualifying in Q2.