Norris on Vegas pole with title rival Piastri fifth

McLaren’s Lando Norris took pole position in a wet qualifying session for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri only fifth.

Norris beat Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, the only other driver still vaguely in title contention, by 0.323secs.

Williams’ Carlos Sainz was third ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and Piastri.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, whose team-mate Charles Leclerc was ninth, was 20th, the seven-time champion knocked out in the first session and complaining he could not get his tyres to work.

Norris, who leads Piastri by 24 points with three races to go, took his third consecutive pole position as he continues to look like a world champion in waiting.

Treacherous conditions ‘like driving on ice’

The conditions were treacherous, the session starting after heavy rain on a track wet enough for the extreme wet tyres, which nearly all drivers used throughout the first two sessions.

Norris was not especially fast on the extreme wet tyres, but once on to the intermediate tyres in the final session was consistently the fastest driver on track.

Verstappen, usually so strong in wet conditions, was not quite on the Briton’s level but his second place on the grid makes him a serious threat for the lead into the first corner of the race given his usually aggressive start to races.

Norris survived a wobble on his final lap when he hit the kerb through the Turns 14, 15, 16 chicane but was still fast enough for pole as others behind him were affected by a yellow flag caused by Piastri as he tried to negotiate Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar on his inside, which forced him to run wide.

«That was stressful, stressful as hell,» Norris said. «I didn’t know no-one else would get a lap after me. The first two sectors were good. As soon as you hit the kerb a little bit wrong it’s tricky, it snapped one way and then the other but good enough for pole.

«No-one’s driven here in the wet before. After Q1, every corner you felt like you could crash every corner. One lap at a time. It was a tricky one.»

Verstappen said: «It’s already slippery in the dry but in the wet it’s not fun. It felt more like driving on ice.

«I did feel we were a little more competitive on the extreme tyre, we were not quite competitive enough to fight for pole but second is still good.

«Excited for tomorrow, I hope the inside (of the grid) is OK in terms of grip but we will see.»

Sainz’s run to third was a strong performance in a car not expected to be quick in the wet but he faces an investigation for rejoining unsafely in the first session.

Behind Piastri, the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Hadjar were sixth and eighth, split by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

Leclerc and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly were ninth and 10th.

Piastri had a decision from Aston Martin to switch Lance Stroll to intermediate tyres for a final run in Q2 to thank for progressing into the top 10 shootout.

Stroll had been quick until then but could not switch the tyres on in time before the end of the session to improve his earlier time.

Hamilton struggled throughout the first session and qualified last on outright pace for the first time in his career.