Autobayng News Team
Lando Norris was surprised to learn he’d taken pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
“I messed up,” he told race engineer Will Joseph after taking the chequered flag in Q3. “No, that is pole,” Joseph reassured him.
Norris knew the timing of his final run had worked out well for him, as he completed his lap after Max Verstappen and therefore benefited from a drier circuit. But he also knew other drivers behind him could potentially gain even more.
He was faster than any of them through the first two sectors of his final lap. But he slipped up as he accelerated out of turn 16 and had to catch a huge snap of oversteer.
When told he’d got pole position, Norris asked: “Did no one else get a lap or what?” Joseph told him: “No, there was a yellow flag behind you as well.” Charles Leclerc’s error at turn 12 had taken him out of contention as well as Norris’s team mate Oscar Piastri.
Sector times
Norris stopped using the delta time display on his steering wheel during qualifying earlier in the season. But he would have felt the scale of his time loss at turn 16.
Having picked up three tenths of a second each in the first and second sectors, he gave away almost as much through the final sector. Verstappen gained two tenths of a second at that point on the lap: had Norris done the same he would have had pole position by eight tenths of a second instead of three.
Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase informed him Norris had taken pole position despite the error: “So Norris, pole, three tenths – he made a huge mistake as well at turn 16.”
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| P. | # | Driver | S1 | S2 | S3 | Ultimate lap (deficit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Lando Norris | 30.430 (1) | 36.842 (1) | 40.384 (7) | 1’47.656 (+0.278) |
| 2 | 1 | Max Verstappen | 30.863 (6) | 37.391 (2) | 40.003 (4) | 1’48.257 |
| 3 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 30.894 (7) | 37.608 (5) | 39.794 (1) | 1’48.296 |
| 4 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | 30.839 (4) | 37.719 (6) | 40.097 (6) | 1’48.655 (+0.306) |
| 5 | 63 | George Russell | 30.787 (2) | 38.216 (7) | 39.800 (2) | 1’48.803 |
| 6 | 30 | Liam Lawson | 31.385 (9) | 37.593 (4) | 39.968 (3) | 1’48.946 (+0.116) |
| 7 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | 30.846 (5) | 38.325 (9) | 40.078 (5) | 1’49.249 (+0.305) |
| 8 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | 31.379 (8) | 37.563 (3) | 40.524 (8) | 1’49.466 |
| 9 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | 30.789 (3) | 38.239 (8) | 40.781 (10) | 1’49.809 (+0.063) |
| 10 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | 31.827 (10) | 38.721 (11) | 40.693 (9) | 1’51.241 (+0.299) |
| 11 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | 32.224 (12) | 38.502 (10) | 41.300 (13) | 1’52.026 (+0.755) |
| 12 | 18 | Lance Stroll | 32.300 (13) | 38.944 (12) | 40.853 (11) | 1’52.097 (+0.753) |
| 13 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | 32.601 (16) | 39.033 (14) | 41.076 (12) | 1’52.710 (+0.277) |
| 14 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | 31.896 (11) | 38.998 (13) | 41.938 (15) | 1’52.832 (+0.851) |
| 15 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | 32.373 (15) | 39.120 (15) | 41.405 (14) | 1’52.898 (+0.196) |
| 16 | 23 | Alexander Albon | 32.318 (14) | 39.564 (16) | 42.503 (18) | 1’54.385 (+1.835) |
| 17 | 12 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | 32.864 (17) | 39.846 (17) | 43.228 (20) | 1’55.938 (+0.376) |
| 18 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | 33.719 (20) | 39.977 (18) | 42.978 (19) | 1’56.674 |
| 19 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | 33.582 (19) | 40.806 (19) | 42.306 (16) | 1’56.694 (+0.104) |
| 20 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | 33.579 (18) | 40.886 (20) | 42.363 (17) | 1’56.828 (+0.287) |
Teams’ performance
The wet conditions on Friday meant no one improved their lap times from the opening day of practice on Thursday, and thus make a poor basis for comparison. If tomorrow’s race is dry, it’s possible we will see the rare scenario that some drivers set their fastest laps of the weekend in the grand prix.
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Field performance
The track record for the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, which is hosting its third grand prix this weekend, probably would have fallen had Saturday been dry.
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2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix
- 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix strategy briefing: All the data to follow the race with
- Norris extends his career streak of success against team mates in qualifying
- “Big mistake” by Red Bull caused Tsunoda’s second consecutive Q1 exit
- Why Norris feared he’d thrown pole position away: Lap time watch
- Verstappen rues “unlucky” Q3 after completing one lap less than Norris
