George Russell takes pole in Las Vegas, Carlos Sainz smells like victory and Franco Colapinto’s brutal accident

What a Grand Prix of Las Vegas we have ahead of us. George Russell has taken pole position in a cold classification stopping the clock at 1:32.312, taking advantage of the ease with which his Mercedes warms up the tires in an environment in which all his rivals need more than one lap to do so.

Although Russell is far from the favorite for victory. That’s your front row mate, Carlos Sainz, who is less than a tenth away from pole but in free practice he seemed to have more pace than the Mercedes. The key will be tire management and dealing with graining.

Verstappen starts in front of Norris and already savors the alirón

George Russell has lived up to expectations and will start from pole in Las Vegas. The English driver took advantage of his Mercedes, something he was unable to do a very failed Lewis Hamiltonwho made mistakes in his two fast laps in Q3 and is going to start tenth having a car to take pole position.

However, all eyes are on Sainz. And the Ferrari driver comes second and his car seems to have much better race pace than Russell’s. So the Spanish is favorite, and Ferrari could deal a big blow to the constructors’ championship taking into account that Charles Leclerc starts fourth.

Between the two Ferraris the big surprise of the classification has slipped in. Pierre Gasly has managed to get his Alpine into third position from the grid thanks to a miraculous lap that corroborates that the French team has improved. We’ll see what role it plays in the fight for championships.

Because there is going to be a big mess behind. Max Verstappen starts fifth, with Lando Norris sixth. These positions would be enough for the champion to retain his title, but in the race simulations the McLaren seemed the fastest car while the Red Bull had dramatic wear and tear, so another heart-stopping melee is coming.

In any case, McLaren’s shot in qualifying. Because Oscar Piastri is directly in eighth position, even behind Yuki Tsunoda’s Racing Bulls. The papayas have to make a comeback if they don’t want to see the constructors’ world championship seriously compromised. Although not with Red Bull, since Sergio Pérez was eliminated again in Q1.

¡BRUTAL damn Colapinto!

His Williams was completely destroyed. Fortunately, he is fine #LasVegasDAZNF1 pic.twitter.com/enl4jMztMe

— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) November 23, 2024

The most tense moment of the classification has been the terrible accident of Franco Colapintowho destroyed the Williams and whose presence in tomorrow’s race is in doubt. As for Fernando Alonso, he was eliminated again in Q1 with an Aston Martin that is no good: Lance Stroll is the last after a breakdown in FP3.

Formula 1 GP Las Vegas 2024 classification results