George Russell overcame a Turn 5 crash to grab pole at the Las Vegas GP, edging Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly as Mercedes shone under the lights.
The start of Q3 was delayed after Franco Colapinto suffered a hard hit at Turn 16, not only causing significant damage to his Williams but also the barrier.
With the potential for red flags, the drivers queued in the pit lane for the start of Q1 with George Russell bucking the trend as he went with a set of medium tyres. He was back in the pits having scrubbed the tyres for the race, before joining his rivals on the soft Pirellis.
McLaren set the early pace with Oscar Piastri 0.03s up on Lando Norris, the team-mates briefly challenged by the Ferraris before Piastri upped his pace to a 1:33.4. A purple from Max Verstappen in the opening sector saw him move up to fourth place, make that sixth as Russell hit the front with Charles Leclerc up to second.
And all the while Lance Stroll sat in the Aston Martin garage, waiting as his mechanics changed his ERS pack which had failed in final practice.
Verstappen took over at the front with a 1:33.2 before he was pipped by the Mercedes team-mates, Russell quickest ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
But on the other side of the Red Bull garage, Sergio Perez was struggling to escape the bottom five, down in 18th place. He moved up to 12th place only to drop back down to 16th, suffering his ninth Q1 exit for F1 2024.
He went out with Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon, Valtteri Bottas and Stroll, who managed one timed lap but it wasn't enough.
Out on track for Q2 it was anyone's guess who would come out on top with Hamilton, Piastri and Verstappen separated by a mere 0.065 with Norris a further 0.05s down. Behind them, it was Nico Hulkenberg and Yuki Tsunoda while the Ferrari drivers left it late to put in a lap.
Russell and Hamilton again made it a 1-2 while Leclerc went third on his first flying lap, Sainz P6 before there was a brief moment of silence followed by a second round of action.
Hamilton upped his pace to a 1:32.5 to go quickest as the chequered flag fell while Franco Colapinto, pushing hard to make it into Q3, hit the inside wall at Turn 15/16 hard with his front left before slamming into the wall on the opposite side of the track with his Williams suffering significant three-wheel damage.
Out went Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen, Zhou Guanyu, Colapinto and Liam Lawson.
The start of Q3 was delayed for Colapinto's crash as not only did it leave debris on the circuit but there was also damage to the barriers. Q3 got underway at 11:10 pm, the drivers queuing in the pit lane.
Russell despite hitting the Turn 5 wall hard set the pace in the opening run with a 1:32.8, putting him 0.2s up on Sainz with Verstappen third. A lock-up cost Hamilton who was down in 10th place having aborted his lap.
Bolting fresh tyres onto their Ferraris, Leclerc and Sainz were the first two drivers out for their second run with Verstappen and Russell the last time.
Leclerc overhauled Russell before he lost out to Sainz, Gasly splitting the Ferraris in second… and then came Russell. Pole position! Russell clocked a 1:32.312 to clinched the coveted grid slot by 0.098s ahead of Sainz with Gasly and Leclerc on the second row.
Verstappen will line up fifth ahead of his title rival Norris while Hamilton was only P10.
Qualifying Times:
1 George Russell 1:32.312
2 Carlos Sainz +0.098
3 Pierre Gasly +0.352
4 Charles Leclerc +0.471
5 Max Verstappen +0.485
6 Lando Norris +0.696
7 Yuki Tsunoda +0.717
8 Oscar Piastri +0.721
9 Nico Hulkenberg +0.750
10 Lewis Hamilton +15.794
11 Esteban Ocon 1:33.221
12 Kevin Magnussen 1:33.297
13 Zhou Guanyu 1:33.566
14 Franco Colapinto 1:33.749
15 Liam Lawson 1:34.257
16 Sergio Perez 1:34.155
17 Fernando Alonso 1:34.258
18 Alex Albon 1:34.425
19 Valtteri Bottas 1:34.430
20 Lance Stroll 1:34.484
