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\nWet conditions presented a challenge in Vegas<\/p>\n
Lando Norris said his march to pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix was “stressful as hell” as he ticked off another box in his bid to win the world championship by mastering a wet and wild qualifying session in Sin City.<\/p>\n
In treacherous conditions on the Strip, Norris saw off Max Verstappen by 0.323 seconds, while Oscar Piastri \u2013 Norris’ closest title challenger \u2013 could manage only fifth.<\/p>\n
Carlos Sainz took third for Williams, one place ahead of Mercedes\u2019 George Russell. Lewis Hamilton\u2019s nightmare debut season for Ferrari took another catastrophic twist after he qualified 20th and last.<\/p>\n
Norris leads McLaren team-mate Piastri by 24 points in the standings and Verstappen by 49, with 83 points to play for across the concluding three rounds.<\/p>\n
He will start here in the best position to extend his title advantage, with a view to potentially being crowned champion of the world as early as next weekend in Qatar.<\/p>\n
Norris won from pole at the past two rounds in Mexico and Brazil, and this was yet another statement performance from the 26-year-old Englishman as the season reaches its climax. He was one second quicker than the out-of-sorts Piastri in the other McLaren.<\/p>\n
\nWet conditions presented a challenge in Vegas<\/p>\n
“I had a nap before qualifying, and I was expecting it to be dry and I woke up and saw it was wet,” said Norris.<\/p>\n
“I thought: ‘Oh crap, this is not going to well\u2019. It is so easy to crash when it is like this so it is rewarding to be on pole.<\/p>\n
“It was stressful as hell. It is so slippery out there that as soon as you hit the kerb you snap the car but it was good enough for P1.<\/p>\n
“The pace has been good all weekend. I didn\u2019t expect to be as quick as I was in the wet. It is going to be an interesting race with Max up there. Hopefully we can have a good race.”<\/p>\n
Hamilton\u2019s dismal opening campaign in red suffered yet another sobering blow when he finished as the slowest of all 20 drivers.<\/p>\n
Hamilton lapped 3.97 seconds slower than George Russell\u2019s pace-setting Mercedes in Q1, and 2.3 seconds adrift of Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc. It marked one of the worst qualifying performance of Hamilton\u2019s 19-season career.<\/p>\n
“I couldn\u2019t get the tyres to work,” said a dejected Hamilton as he drove back to the pits.<\/p>\n
The latest chapter in Hamilton\u2019s year to forget arrived 11 days after he was told by Ferrari chairman John Elkann to “talk less and focus more on his driving”.<\/p>\n
Outside of his sprint victory at the second round in China, his switch from Mercedes to Ferrari has failed to live up to its blockbuster billing.<\/p>\n