George Russell ahead of Carlos Sainz on pole, with Max Verstappen and Lando Norris together on row three, ahead of race in which F1's world title fight could be settled; watch the Las Vegas GP live on Sky Sports F1 and Main Event at 6am on Sunday, with build-up from 4.30am
Sunday 24 November 2024 05:09, UK
George Russell warned "anything can happen" on Las Vegas' fast and challenging street track ahead of a Grand Prix in which F1's world title can be won, and the Mercedes driver is aiming to hold off closely-matched rivals for the race win from pole position.
Sunday morning's race - which starts at 6am live on Sky Sports F1 and Main Event - will see Max Verstappen crowned as a four-time world champion if he finishes ahead of Lando Norris, who the Red Bull driver starts one position ahead of on the grid after the title rivals struggled to fifth and sixth places in Qualifying respectively.
Whether either championship contender can get in the fight for the Vegas race win remains uncertain, though, after Mercedes and Ferrari took centre stage on Saturday, with Russell strengthening a fine weekend for the former so far by claiming the Silver Arrows' first pole position since July's British Grand Prix.
Mercedes have topped every session so far but Russell said the Las Vegas Strip Circuit - which made its debut in an action-packed race last year and continues to prove challenging for drivers amid chilly late-night local conditions - can not be underestimated.
"Here in Vegas, anything can happen," stressed the polesitter.
"It's a long race, there was a timely Safety Car for a number of people last year and we also saw that in Brazil.
"So right now I'm very happy, very satisfied, but I'm not going to take anything for granted going into [Sunday]."
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz starts alongside Russell on the front row, with Alpine's Pierre Gasly - fresh from the team's unexpected double podium last time out in Brazil - a surprise third.
On the day that Verstappen and Norris' season-long duel could be settled, Sunday will actually be just the second time this season that neither of the championship's top two have started from inside the first four positions on the grid.
And that fact represents particularly bad timing for Norris, who knows he must outscore Verstappen by at least three points on Sunday if he is stay in the title fight heading to next week's Qatar Grand Prix, the season's penultimate event.
Verstappen is champion if he finishes ahead of Norris in any position and therefore, by outqualifying the Briton by one place with fifth, starts in a title-winning grid spot despite a difficult weekend so far in an RB20 car lacking a bespoke low-downforce rear wing.
McLaren endured a torrid weekend on F1's debut on the Las Vegas Strip Circuit last year, when both cars dropped out in Q1 and then Norris crashing on the third lap, and while they experienced no setbacks on such a scale yet, the Briton still admitted after Qualifying it had so far proved "too difficult basically, too much of a challenge with our car"
But Norris remains determined to mathematically stay in the title fight as long as possible.
"I'll do everything I can, of course," Norris told Sky Sports F1.
"That's what I'm here to do. I'm not going to give up until the end, even if the chance is extremely thin.
"But I'm here to do the best in every race I can whether I'm fighting for a championship or not. So I'll go out [on Sunday], it's a long race, many things can happen. We're quick in the straight so hopefully that can come to our advantage."
Verstappen admitted he had not expected to be starting ahead of the McLarens given weekend-long struggles to find the correct downforce levels and sufficient grip.
"I think what we did was the right direction but still clearly not enough to fight for pole. I'm still quite happy," said the Dutchman.
"We are still in front of McLaren, which for me is a bit of a surprise but I'm quite happy with how Qualifying went and my laps."
Having not claimed a pole position since July's British Grand Prix, Russell described Mercedes' return to the front of the grid, and their pace-setting form all weekend so far, as "a real surprise for all of us" - and one they needed to try and fully understand.
For now, though, the Briton was simply delighted to be starting what he is fully expecting to be a challenging race from the grid's box seat.
Assessing how the 50-lap race might play out, Russell said: "The long run for everybody has been very challenging on the medium and the soft, there's a lot of graining.
"We saw the same last year but I expect the hard tyre to be very resilient. But not one single driver has run the hard tyre yet this whole weekend so you're going to be learning on the fly. It's going to probably be surviving that first stint and going from there."
Mercedes' return to form appears to have been aided by the chilly Nevada desert temperatures and their car's ability to generate heat into its tyres quickly.
Russell took pole by 0.098s from a similarly-impressive Sainz, who lapped almost 0.4s quicker than fourth-placed team-mate Charles Leclerc, who took pole here last year.
And Sainz believes Ferrari's race pace should be more even more competitive as they chase a third win the past four races.
"I think we should have the pace to fight for the win," he said.
"At the same time, there's too many unknowns to confirm or deny that. A lot of it will be graining, graining limitation, who can control the graining better.
"But even if we might see some teams struggling a lot on medium tyres, then the hard resets everything again because no one's run the hard. And we know that we are not the best team on hard tyres this season.
"So, yeah, too many unknowns to tell, but I'm confident that we can fight for a win."
So how many of the cars on the front rows are in true victory contention?
"I think we are genuinely fighting for the win with Mercedes," added Sainz.
"They went through a run of winning, I think, three consecutive races in mid-season and whenever they get it together, they are very, very fast and the fastest, like they've shown [in Vegas]. So I think we're definitely going to fight George.
"I think Pierre, if he keeps these lap times, why not? And of course, Charles behind in P4 and who is P5? Max. Maybe with his higher downforce car can take a better care of the tyres and the graining and then suddenly he can get in the mix also."
Sunday November 24
4.30am: Grand Prix Sunday: Las Vegas GP build-up*
6am: THE LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX*
8am: Chequered Flag: Las Vegas GP reaction*
9am: Ted's Notebook*
*also live on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 returns with the Las Vegas Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1 where Max Verstappen could seal the championship. Stream the final three F1 races and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership - No contract, cancel anytim
