George Russell took a blistering pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix – but it was another dark night for Lewis Hamilton.
The tale of the old and the new, the young and the old, saw Russell put in an inch-perfect lap while Hamilton made two errors to qualify a bleak 10th.
Hamilton was 15.7sec behind Russell – a distorted figure, because the much-garlanded multiple world champion failed to set a time, but a wounding one.
Some excessive hoopla celebrated Hamilton’s first places in practice yesterday as they were the Second Coming rather than a hopeful flicker of a possible upturn after a puzzlingly poor string of form.
When it came down to it, Hamilton ran wide on his first flying lap of Q3 and then another error in the decisive final blast.
Russell’s pole was the fourth of his career and third of the season, achieved 0.098sec ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, the Spaniard whose seat Hamilton will take at Ferrari next year. Pierre Gasly was a surprise third quickest for Alpine.
George Russell of Mercedes has claimed the front row for Saturday’s Las Vegas Grand Prix
Russell crossed the line last, beating out Carlos Sainz’s time by less than a tenth of a second
The car of Carlos Sainz passes by The Sphere during qualifying of the Las Vegas Grand Prix
Russell, who could not explain Mercedes’ revival, touched the wall on the exit of Turn Five during his first Q3 in setting the then fastest time.
He needed a new front wing, went out and delivered the required improved time. Job done for the day.
Perhaps, however, the real winner in qualifying was the Dutchman chasing the big jackpot, Max Verstappen. He qualified fifth, a place ahead of Lando Norris, his only remaining mathematical challenger for the world title.
Verstappen will wrap up affairs if he finishes ahead of Verstappen in Sunday’s glamour race, rendering the final two rounds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi redundant.
Another disappointment for Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, who was eliminated in Q1 for the sixth time this season. That was humiliation enough. But as the Mexican made his excuses – blaming a lack of grip – a hologram of the faltering driver appeared on the Sphere – the giant, illuminated feature on Sands Avenue. His travails were staring at him via 1.23million LED pucks.
Perez has not made the podium since the Chinese Grand Prix in April, and is unlikely to see out his two-year contract at Red Bull.
If Max Verstappen is to win his fourth title this weekend, he’ll do so after starting from fifth
The car of Max Verstappen makes its way down the pit straight at the Las Vegas Grand Prix
Lining up next to Verstappen is Lando Norris – the only driver in his way for a championship
Aston Martin, who appear to be pinning their hopes of revival on the arrival of design guru Adrian Newey next March, endured more misery while they wait. Fernando Alonso was 17th, a place lower than Perez. Lance Stroll had an energy recovery system failure in practice and joined the qualification process late, and briefly. He was slowest of all.
The team’s press release was issued before qualifying was over.
A poor night for Alex Albon. The London-born Williams driver was slower than Franco Colapinto, the Argentine rookie, whose strong beginnings is placing question marks next to his team-mate. Albon was only 18th best; Colapinto 14th.
Colapinto, however, crashed heavily at the final corner at the end of Q2. Carrying perhaps 130mph, his left wheel hit the barrier hard. He had been set to improve on his time but was too close to the limit and bounced across the main straight and ended up on the wall on the other side 300 yards from impact.
The car was torn to shreds but Colapinto was able to climb out slowly from the wreckage and walk into the medical car.
Lando Norris chases down the Visa Cash App RB of Yuki Tsunoda on the Las Vegas Strip
Racing on the Las Vegas strip during practice ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix
Back in the Williams garage – despair, including one mechanic on his knees. They have rebuilt more cars than anyone this year.
The smash caused a half-hour delay while repairs to the barriers was carried out and significant debris cleared.
Russell kept his head through it all.
