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Formula 1 Las Vegas GP

F1 Las Vegas GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 & Qualifying

Saturday's action from the 21st round of the 2023 Formula 1 season.

By: Haydn Cobb, Stefan Mackley

Stopped
Summary
  • Leclerc grabs pole from Sainz, but it's Verstappen who will start from second, with Russell in third
  • Eliminated in Q2: Hamilton, Perez, Hulkenberg, Stroll and Ricciardo
  • Knocked out in Q1: Norris, Ocon, Zhou, Piastri and Tsunoda
  • Stroll gets a five-place grid penalty before the start of qualifying for ignoring yellow flags during practice
  • Las Vegas GP qualifying kicks off at 8am GMT
Q3 leaderboard
  1. Leclerc
  2. Sainz
  3. Verstappen
  4. Russell
  5. Gasly
  6. Albon
  7. Sargeant
  8. Bottas
  9. Magnussen
  10. Alonso
Checkered flag
With that, we'll wrap up this live coverage of Las Vegas GP qualifying. Never fear, we'll be back for the main event with the race starting at 6am GMT/10pm local time. Until then, have a lovely Saturday and go well!
Breaking news
Here's the full Las Vegas GP qualifying report: 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-las-vegas-gp-qualifying-report/10548183/

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23

A replay of Leclerc's pole lap rather backs up his assessment, a few steering corrections and changes, but that Ferrari has had pace over one lap all season. Can it back it up in the race this time?
Quote
Leclerc on his 23rd career F1 pole: "Of course happy, first in Las Vegas, an incredible event, to be starting from pole is great but I am disappointed with my lap in Q3, I didn't do a good enough job but it was enough for P1."
Quote
Sainz on his P2 in qualifying: "An outstanding job by the whole team to dominant qualifying, after yesterday and putting together a whole car again, to get a front-row lockout is incredible. Of course I would've liked to start on pole as it would mean 11th and not 12th, but I think we did the maximum we could. I'm not going to lie I am still in a bad mood after yesterday."
Quote
Verstappen on his P3 in qualifying: "It felt good yesterday [in practice], we would've liked to have more pace today but we know the points are tomorrow. First one here, you never know, might be some safety cars, so we'll manage the race."
Las Vegas GP grid after penalties applied: P1 Leclerc, P2 Verstappen, P3 Russell, P4 Gasly, P5 Albon, P6 Sargeant, P7 Bottas, P8 Magnussen, P9 Alonso, P10 Hamilton.
Sainz is second but with his 10-place grid drop it means he will drop away and it'll promote Verstappen on to the front row.
Checkered flag
It all means Leclerc is on pole for the Las Vegas GP!
Russell goes fourth, with Gasly fifth!
Sainz misses out on top spot by 0.044s! But it is a Ferrari 1-2!
Verstappen pits on his lap, it wasn't shaping up as a good effort, so he will be third at best in qualifying.
...Leclerc posts a 1m32.726s to set the time to beat for pole.
Everyone is on their final Q3 laps, and Leclerc is looking quickest of all so far...
Into the final three minutes of Q3. All of nothing time.
Russell goes fifth with a 1m33.567s. So the pole fight is between the Ferraris, Verstappen and Alonso.
Russell starts his timed lap having completed his double warm-up lap. Curiously, both Williams did just an out-lap before pitting again, so neither of them have a lap time to their name.
Stopwatch
Verstappen slots into third with a 1m33.104s, as Alonso goes fourth after a lock-up which puts him half a second back.
Stopwatch
Leclerc sets the provisional pole of 1m33.021s - slower than his best Q2 lap - but it still gives him a 0.022s edge of team-mate Sainz.
The Sphere breaks its own rules as Alonso charges by with it bright yellow as part of the Google ad. Bad Sphere.
Lots of early takers again, with just Russell and Bottas looking set for a one-and-done go at Q3, as everyone else heads out for an early run.
Lights green
OK, time for Q3!
Credit to Williams too with both Albon and Sargeant in Q3. This circuit, a bit like Monza, really suits their car.
So, pole position shootout time. Time to put it all on red? Ferrari 1-2 in Q2 with Leclerc leading the way with a 1m32.775s.
Out in Q2: P11 Hamilton, P12 Perez, P13 Hulkenberg, P14 Stroll (+5 grid drop), P15 Ricciardo.
And so is Hamilton! He drops out in 11th and says he "couldn't go faster".
Perez's gamble doesn't pay off! There are late lap improvements aplenty from Albon, Magnussen, Sargeant and Bottas. Perez it out!
Stroll goes 10th but is quickly pushed out by Sargeant to push the Canadian out. The rest of the final lap efforts coming up.
Perez gambling in Vegas, there's a line in there somewhere.
Perez pits with just under three minutes to go currently in sixth, and that looks like he's done for Q2. He is four-tenths clear of the point of no return (we need more names for the drop zone) so that is a risk.
Bottas then does the same to push Albon into the problem parlour.
Hulkenberg pops up to ninth to push Gasly into the danger zone.
Stopwatch
Now it is a Ferrari 1-2, Leclerc's 1m32.834s giving him a half-second gap over Sainz. Rapid.