US Edition
Charles Leclerc on pole as Las Vegas looks to move on from F1 practice chaos
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took a historic pole position at the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix as Formula One tried to move on from a bruising 24 hours in Sin City.
A day after fans were left furious after being forced to evacuate the circuit at 2am local time, half an hour before a heavily delayed second practice finally got underway, qualifying at the £500 million race passed off without a hitch.
Ferrari were consistently quickest, with Leclerc the only driver to dip into the 1:32s in Q2. And so it was again in Q3, Leclerc taking pole under the lights with a 1:32.726, which was just 0.044sec faster than his team-mate Carlos Sainz managed.
Max Verstappen was third quickest, three tenths slower again, but the triple world champion, who will be chasing his 18th win of the season on Saturday, will start alongside Leclerc on the front row as Sainz has a 10-place grid penalty due to changing elements of his car after hitting the infamous ‘manhole cover’ in FP1 on Thursday.
“It was enjoyable out there,” said Verstappen. “I think we maximised today. I hope of course tomorrow in the race that we are good on the tyres again and we can work out a way forward.”
Next on the grid will be Mercedes’ George Russell who for some reason was able to extract much more out of the car than team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton did not even make the final top 10 shootout, exiting in Q2.
The surprise package of qualifying was undoubtedly Williams, with Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant taking sixth and seventh on the grid, which will become fifth and sixth once Sainz takes his medicine.
At the other end of the scale, McLaren had a disastrous session with both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri failing to make the cut in Q1. They were only able to qualify in 16th and 19th.
Norris said it was “painful” but admitted it was “not a surprise” to the team, who were not hopeful coming into the week given the low-downforce nature of the circuit, not a particular strength of the McLaren.
Race organisers, who were heavily criticised for their handling of Thursday’s debacle, and again on Friday when they failed to apologise to fans, only offering a small percentage of ticket holders $200 worth of vouchers in recompense, will be praying the race lives up to the hype.
Las Vegas Grand Prix qualifying, as it happened
That's nine times Sergio Perez has failed to reach Q3 in 2023
That is poor.
It’s probably not enough to worry Red Bull at the moment (given how good Verstappen has been) but it clearly isn’t good enough.
In fact, had the season started in Great Britain, the points table would be as follows:
- Verstappen, 329pts
- Norris, 183pts
- Perez, 132pts
- Sainz, 124pts
- Hamilton, 124pts
- Leclerc, 116pts
- Russell, 91pts
- Alonso, 81pts
Nearly 200 points behind his team-mate in that time, 50 behind Norris and basically challenging with drivers in the third and fourth fastest cars. If Verstappen drops off or the RB20 is caught up then that does become a problem for the team.
Stunning performance from Williams, sixth and seventh for Albon and Sargeant
They will start fifth and sixth tomorrow. James Vowles speaks to Sky Sports F1:
“I think that was a dream... we knew we’d be quick here. To have both cars nicely in the top 10 within six-tenths of pole, that is a great achievement.”
Only two teams have two cars in the top 10: Ferrari and Williams.
That is Leclerc's 23rd pole position in F1
Only 13 drivers have more pole positions than him, and of those, only Hamilton, Schumacher, Senna, Vettel, Clark and Fangio have a better pole percentage.
Just five wins, though. His fifth this year, but no wins, either. He will obviously be hoping to put that right tomorrow.
Carlos Sainz on the front row
For now... he takes a 10-place grid penalty...
“First of all, an outstanding job by the whole team. To put together the whole car and to get a front row lockout is incredible. We did the maximum that we could today. Obviously, still disappointed from yesterday, I am still in a bad mood, I am not going to lie but it is what it is.”
Max Verstappen on this third place
“Of course it’s quite cold out there, it’s quite slippery. You try to get as close as you can to the walls... it was enjoyable out there. I think we maximised today. I hope of course tomorrow in the race that we are good on the tyres again and we can work out way forward. We know that the points are tomorrow and it’s going to be a tough one.”
CHARLES LECLERC TAKES POLE FOR THE 2023 LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX
Did he ever look like being challenged? Yes, a little. But that was a superb performance from the Monegasque driver. Really hooked it up. Not sure what happened to Verstappen but he came back into the pit lane. He is third, but will start on the front row tomorrow.
Q3 - Sainz isn't too far away from his team-mate
Verstappen isn’t getting pole, he’s probably aborted his lap now.
Sainz crosses the line... just 0.044sec off his team-mate! That is surely pole for Leclerc!
Sargeant into fourth... Bottas fifth! Russell into fourth, knocking those two down... what can Albon do?
Q3 - Final runs under way
Let’s see what they’ve got, with Verstappen now out there.
His first sector time isn’t as good as previously, but is that a bad thing? He sets the fastest middle sector of all...
Verstappen is slower than Leclerc was after one sector... and he’s MILES off after two sectors.
Magnussen moves up to fourth!
Leclerc improves to a 1:32.726 to go faster still...
Q3 - Russell the sole Mercedes left
He doesn’t look to be challenging the front row on this pace. No Williams or Bottas yet, either. Russell crosses the line in fifth, 0.546sec off Leclerc. It wasn’t the best lap from him, slower than his Q2 time.
Verstappen gets as close to the wall as you want to...
“F---, that was close!” he says on the radio.
Q3 - Leclerc crosses the line with a 1:33.021
Sainz isn’t far away though! But 0.022sec the gap. Verstappen is challenging but can’t beat Leclerc! 0.083sec the gap from the Red Bull to the lead Ferrari.
Alonso makes a bit of a mistake on used tyres but still goes fourth, which suggests there is pace in that Aston Martin.
Q2 Classification - Leclerc leads Sainz, Hamilton and Perez out
- LEC 1:32.755
- SAI +0.563
- RUS +0.576
- GAS +0.719
- VER +0.797
- ALB +0.813
- ALO +0.842
- MAG +0.889
- SAR +0.958
- BOT +1.034
- HAM +1.062
- PER +1.080
- HUL +1.204
- STR +1.424
- RIC +1.533
Hamilton didn’t have the pace but Perez was apparently saving a set of tyres for Q3. Well, he won’t be able to use them now, will he? Guess he has them for the race... but if it’s marginal (as it obviously was), why not just go out there? Do it late and you can abort the lap if others don’t look like challenging you.
Q2 - Albon sixth!
That means Perez is out! And Hamilton is at risk now... he’s on track but isn’t on a flying lap and is down in 11th. He’s out too!
Perez and Hamilton are not out by much, in fact less than half a tenth each, but they are out nonetheless.
“I couldn’t go any faster, mate,” Hamilton says on the radio. The presence of the Haas cars, the Williams cars and Bottas has made it more difficult for the bigger teams.
Q2 - Two minutes remain
Williams might struggle to make Q3 at this rate. Haas doing a fantastic job. Perez is not out there and might be waiting nervously to see if he gets through. He’s the only one who isn’t on track. It wouldn’t take an enormous improvement by an enormous number of drivers to drop him out but I reckon he should be fine, just about. It’s marginal.
Q2 - Here come the Ferraris...
Leclerc goes fastest by nearly 0.8sec! Sainz cannot even get within half a second of him, but does go second to make it a Ferrari 1-2. The other two Ferrari-powered cars, the Haases, are currently fourth and fifth. Track evolution strong here.
Gasly, Sargeant, Stroll, Ricciardo and Bottas the men in the drop zone.
Q1 - Chequered flag
Norris is in danger now... he’s in 15th. Russell into third. Norris has finished his session... Stroll moves up to 11th and knocks Norris out! Two McLarens out in the first part of qualifying. Ouch. It’s like we’re back to the start of the season. They have been rapid recently but that will not help them in their fight for fourth with Aston Martin...
Q1 - Russell has moved up into sixth
Sargeant moves into third putting him down to seventh. The lap times are getting quicker and quicker which makes it a bit dicey for anyone hoping to duck back into the garage around now. And also those still going round, actually, if they do not pull out a good lap.
Norris has a lap time deleted and moves back down to ninth after Hulkenberg moves up to fourth. Interesting...
Q1 - Magnussen out there already
Have to say, visually from the television there isn’t actually a great deal different to watching say, Jeddah, Baku (were it at night) or Singapore. That’s mostly because the walls are plastered with the same advertising hoardings. Of course it’s a bit different when you zoom out but... all a bit samey.
Among all this nonsense, let us not forget that we have a race to run this weekend
Again, it’s a shame that there is not much riding on it, with Verstappen winning all but three (!) of the races so far this year. But recent rounds - at least since the summer break - have been more interesting with Ferrari winning in Singapore and McLaren challenging. Mercedes have had a resurgence at various points but their weekend in Brazil last time out (where they won in 2022) was appalling, slower than even Aston Martin.
Still, it’s a new track and hopefully it’ll be a good fight for pole. Ferrari - and often Charles Leclerc - seem to go well at street tracks...
Current constructor standings
Just two rounds left and it’s pretty close between second and third, fourth and fifth and seventh and eighth. Bigger gaps elsewhere, though. Alpine stuck in no man’s land in sixth. Williams should be good for seventh (realistically the best they could have hoped for), though AlphaTauri have hit a rich patch of form recently.
F1 will not crack America with this Las Vegas grand prix clown show
Oliver Brown wrote about yesterday’s debacle:
Max Verstappen is right: the Las Vegas Grand Prix, F1’s ultimate exhibition of style over substance, is a clown show. The hapless charade under the lights wrapped up a little after 4am local time, in front of bleakly empty grandstands, after second practice became – due to “logistical considerations for our fans and staff” – a fan-free affair. A few diehard insomniacs watched the action from a multi-storey car park opposite the Sphere. Long-suffering mechanics faced the prospect of still working at daybreak.
This is the statement released this morning, about yesterday
Renee Wilm, CEO of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, and Stefano Domenicali, CEO of Formula 1, today issued the following statement:
“Our top priority at Formula 1 is the safety and security of our drivers, employees, and fans. Responsibility for the oversight of a Formula 1 event falls with Formula 1 as the commercial rights holder of the sport, the FIA as the regulatory body, and the local promoter, in this case the Las Vegas Grand Prix. This is important for those who are new to racing to understand.
“Last night, approximately nine minutes into the first Free Practice session, a water valve cover broke on the straight on Las Vegas Boulevard. At that time the FIA, which is responsible for the safe running of the activities on the circuit, stopped the session so that we could look at the broken water valve cover and inspect the track. This has happened on occasion at other tracks at other races around the world.
“The precautionary step of removing all of the water valve covers on the entire track and filling them with sand and asphalt was undertaken. The entire process, from determination of the issue to remediation, took approximately five hours. The decision to remediate in this way was taken out of an abundance of caution and because the safety of drivers, trackside marshals and officials and our fans is always our highest priority. We thank the contractors who worked expeditiously to resolve the situation so quickly.
“As a result, the first Free Practice ended early. We moved ahead with the second Free Practice session at approximately 2:30 AM PT for 90 minutes.
“The decision to run the second Free Practice session at 2:30 AM PT was supported by all parties to ensure the sporting integrity of the remainder of the event.
“We would like to thank the drivers, mechanics and all the teams for their patience and commitment last night to ensure that we could run the session successfully.
“Now, let us turn to the fan experience.
“The delay in the start of the second Free Practice session from midnight to 2:30 AM PT created risks for our employees and our fans.
“We made the decision to close the fan areas that are under LVGP’s purview at 1:30 AM PT and send fans home.
“Let us explain why.
“First, we were concerned about our public safety and security officials who had been in service for a long time and who are being asked to work for the next three nights. We thank Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Department of Public Works and other public safety officials for their incredible support during the event and also as we re-opened the track early this morning.
“Second, we were concerned about our transportation employees who are responsible for driving our fans back to hotels. By Federal law, they were bumping up against the amount of time they can legally and safely drive buses.
“Finally, our hospitality staff needed the ability to clean and resupply our guest areas to ensure that the fan experience is optimal for everyone over the coming days.
“We know this was disappointing. We hope our fans will understand based on this explanation that we had to balance many interests, including the safety and security of all participants and the fan experience over the whole race weekend.
“We have all been to events, like concerts, games and even other Formula 1 races, that have been cancelled because of factors like weather or technical issues. It happens, and we hope people will understand.
“So how will we address this tonight?
“We have worked overnight to adjust our staffing plans across security, transportation and hospitality to ensure that we can function and serve fans with the best possible experience in the event of an extended race schedule.
“We are excited about the racing today and thank our entire team and our fans for their support. We know this is going to be a great event. With that let’s get back to racing.”
I am not sure this is good enough and, I am not the first person to point it out, but “sorry” or “apologise” is not found in the above statement...
Good morning
Welcome to our live coverage for qualifying for the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix, from the Strip itself. Formula One has spent a lot of money on this event, and have put a lot of effort into convincing people that it will be “the greatest show on earth”... or something like that. It is fair to say that the event, so far, has fallen a long way short of expectations.
Yesterday’s practice running was, simply, a farce. There was not even 10 minutes of first practice completed before the entire show was derailed. Carlos Sainz ran over a loose drain cover, which destroyed his Ferrari. The session was red-flagged, with Esteban Ocon and his Alpine also hitting the cover. Both cars were heavily damaged.
This then necessitated a look at the remaining 40 or so manhole covers around the rest of the track, as well as ensuring that they will be fixed in place, avoiding a repeat. First practice was then restarted and then there was an enormous delay – and plenty of uncertainty – around if and when second practice (due to start at 8am GMT) would actually begin.
Eventually it began two hours later than planned and was extended to 90 minutes, from the usual hour. Yet by this time all of the fans had been ejected from the grandstands and site, so FP2 took place to an entirely empty track (other than team staff, media and F1 personnel). It had echoes of coronavirus. The tickets, even to attend practice, were not cheap. It was an awful look for a sport which has invested so much, literally and otherwise, in this event. There was a lot of disgruntlement, clearly, some strange responses and a statement from the organisers (F1 themselves) which was an explanation but was no apology.
Anyway, back to the on-track action. Thankfully this morning’s third and final practice took place without a hitch and we must hope the same will happen for qualifying, which begins in an hour. In any case, George Russell finished FP3 fastest ahead of Oscar Piastri but it is difficult to look too much into the headline times and order as the session was stopped late on after Alex Albon crashed his Williams, bringing out a red flag.