F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix: Ferrari's Leclerc Grabs Pole Position Ahead of Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen

Charles Leclerc of Ferrari clinched pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, marking the penultimate round of the 2023 Formula 1 World Championship. Throughout the morning sessions on Saturday, Leclerc displayed consistent speed, ending in a pole-winning 1: 32.726. With this performance, he was able to pull ahead of Sainz by half a tenth, although Sainz would drop 10 spots on the starting line for an engine violation.

Leclerc and Sainz's positions were further cemented in a stunning turn of events during the final qualifying session, as they both improved on their second Q3 laps. Max Verstappen, meanwhile, came back to the pits without being able to find any more speed and wound up in third place. After Lewis Hamilton was eliminated in Q2, Mercedes' only remaining contender, George Russell, finished in fourth place.

As a result of the track's difficulty and the cool weather, many drivers turned in impressive performances. Pierre Gasly displayed his prowess by achieving an excellent fifth position for Alpine. In a strong showing, Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant of Williams took sixth and seventh places, respectively. Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas completed the top eight, enlivening the grid for the forthcoming Grand Prix even more.

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F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix:  Qualifying Results

McLaren had a tough session on the high-speed streets of Las Vegas, where their recent winning streak had abruptly ended. Lando Norris qualified in 16th place, just outside of Q2, while F1 rookie Oscar Piastri finished nineteenth on the grid. Both Esteban Ocon and Zhou Guanyu dropped out of the race in the 17th and 18th positions, respectively. In the last laps of Q1, Alpine's Ocon and Red Bull's Verstappen shared a strange moment.

Lewis Hamilton finished in 11th place. After exhausting every possible avenue for improvement, Hamilton radioed the Mercedes pit wall to say as much. Due to Sainz's earlier penalty, however, he will move up to 10th in the starting lineup for the race.

After missing the second half of Q2, Sergio Perez had to settle for 12th position. Positions 13–15 were filled by AlphaTauri's Daniel Ricciardo, Haas' Nico Hulkenberg, and Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, who will drop five spots on the starting grid for breaking the yellow flag during practice.

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For Yuki Tsunoda in the second AlphaTauri, the session was difficult; he had one of his lap times cancelled out for going too wide. He messed up on his final lap and will the race from last place on the grid.