Who will be fastest in Sin City tonight?
Qualifying for the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix is set to begin, but who takes pole position on the Vegas Strip is anyone’s guess. Changing weather conditions and an evolving track surface have made predictions tough for tonight’s qualifying hour.
During Thursday’s pair of practice sessions, Charles Leclerc led the way in FP1, followed by Alexander Albon, Yuki Tsunoda, Max Verstappen, and Carlos Sainz Jr. rounding out the top five. Leclerc’s time of 1:34.802 came in 0.166 seconds ahead of Albon.
But in the second hour of practice, Lando Norris, who leads the Drivers’ Championship standings by 24 points over teammate Oscar Piastri, topped the timing sheets with a lap of 1:33.602. Kimi Antonelli, Leclerc, Nico Hülkenberg, and Isack Hadjar completed the top five in FP2.
If you thought that was confusing enough, tonight’s third and final hour of practice jumbled the grid even more. With the track still wet from rains that fell earlier in the day, the session began with the drivers working their way around the Las Vegas Strip Circuit with the wet-weather intermediate tires bolted on. Eventually the surface dried out enough for some slick tire runs, and when the checkered flag flew it was last year’s winner, George Russell, atop the timing sheets.
Meanwhile, Piastri and Norris were down in P19 and P20, respectively. That might have been somewhat misleading due to how the session flowed — and Norris bailed out of one of his final push laps after going purple through the second sector, perhaps keeping his full pace close to his vest — but still, what happens later tonight remains a mystery.
We’ll have all of qualifying covered for you here at SB Nation, which starts at 11:00 p.m. Eastern on Friday night. So check back early and often!
Las Vegas Grand Prix provisional grid
Here is the provisional grid for the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Results will be filled in throughout the session.
