George Russell speeds to pole at Las Vegas Grand Prix

George Russell seized his third pole position of the season for Saturday's Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Russell, of Mercedes, overcame a brush with the Turn 5 wall on his first lap in Q3 on Friday to turn in a top qualifying time of 1 minute 32.312 seconds. He finished just ahead of Ferrari's Carlos Sanz (1:32.410) and Alpine's Pierre Gasly (1:32.664).

"Ultimately you've got to put it on the table sometimes," Russell said. "I felt confident in myself -- I knew if I did a clean lap, it would be enough to secure a front row, so to get pole position is incredible. Ultimately, we've had a few good qualifyings recently -- we need to convert that into a win now."

Sainz was happy to finish as close as he did given the cold conditions.

"It was a tight quali," Sainz said. "I'm a bit closer to pole than what I was expecting, really."

Charles Leclerc (1:32.783), also of Ferrari, finished with the fourth fastest in qualifying.

Dutchman Max Verstappen (1:32.797), who won the Las Vegas race in 2023, was fifth in qualifying, just ahead of rival Lando Norris (1:33.008).

Verstappen, who is bidding for his fourth consecutive title, leads Norris of McLaren by 62 points with three races remaining. Verstappen needs to finish ahead of Norris in order to win the title.

Williams rookie Franco Colapinto of Argentina finished 14th after crashing at the exit of Turn 16, forcing a 20-plus minute delay in racing.

--Field Level Media