Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) took pole at the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix with an advantage of 44 thousandths over his teammate, the Spanish Carlos Sainz, and 378 over the Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull), who completed the first three places on the starting grid for Sunday’s race.
“First of all, I want to highlight the great work of the team,” declared Sainz after the test. “We have led the qualifying session after a very hard Friday. I am disappointed with yesterday, quite angry about the penalty. I would have liked to take pole because then I would start eleventh, not twelfth. We will see how we do and if it is possible to overtake. I would love to fight for the victory with Charles and Max. I hope to reach the top and have options,” he said.
The Spaniard will not be able to be on the front row of the starting grid for Sunday’s race as he has a ten-position penalty after the incident he suffered on Friday with a manhole cover on the circuit.
The Mexican Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) and the British Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) were eliminated in the second qualifying round (Q2) of the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The driver from Guadalajara finished twelfth, 46 thousandths away from passing the cut, while Hamilton finished eleventh, 28th away from qualifying in a tenth position occupied by the Finn Valtteri Bottas (Aston Martin).
In addition, the German Nico Hulkenberg (Haas), the Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and the Australian Daniel Ricciardo (Alpha Tauri) were also eliminated from the fight for pole. To find the other Spanish driver on the grid you have to go down to tenth place, although he will start ninth due to the suspension of his compatriot Sainz.
