Eventful Qualifying in Las Vegas

Overnight rain had added to the track reset from Thursday’s running and conditions in FP3 required the Intermediate to begin with, before teams were able to switch to the Soft tyre.

Rain at the end of that session continued into Qualifying though and it was the full Wet compound that was in use for Q1 and Q2.

As times tumbled, the last lap was always going to be the one that mattered most; unfortunately, Kimi ran deep and had to abandon his effort. He will thus start P17 tomorrow.

George made it through in P1 and used the same set of Wet tyres to go fastest in Q2.

Conditions dictated the use of the Intermediate tyre for Q3; George posted his best effort on his last lap but could only manage P4 after suffering a power steering issue.

George Russell

Unfortunately I suffered a power steering issue midway through Q3 and that cost us a shot at the front row. Looking at the pace of Lando (Norris) in the McLaren, I’m not convinced that we had the pace to match him and take pole, but we could definitely have been best of the rest. That is particularly true as we had been fastest in Q1 and Q2, so we had good speed in the car.

Starting P4 isn’t the ideal place to be lining up but we’ve seen in the first two editions of the race here that plenty can happen. I think we can fight with those ahead and be in the mix for the podium. The weather is expected to be dry tomorrow and warmer than we’ve seen over Thursday and Friday. That will definitely have an effect and adds another unknown to what is likely to be an intriguing Grand Prix.

Kimi Antonelli

That was a tough qualifying session. It was incredibly tricky for everyone out there with very little grip. The circuit was improving lap-by-lap and it was crucial to just keep pushing to maintain temperature in the tyres. My last lap of Q1 was looking strong but I locked up at the end of the straight and that was my session done. It is a big shame as our pace has been good all weekend and we could have been fighting at the front.

Whilst it puts us on the back foot for Saturday’s race, we looked to have good pace in practice on Thursday. Hopefully we can put that to use and gain as many positions as possible. We’re in a tight battle for P2 in the Constructors’ and several of our competitors are also out of position. I’m still confident we can fight for decent points and that is certainly going to be our aim.

Toto Wolff, CEO & Team Principal

We entered qualifying with plenty of promise but unfortunately couldn’t turn that into as strong a result as our pace suggested. The conditions were difficult for all, and we certainly weren’t the only ones to get caught out, but it is nevertheless frustrating.

The final lap of each segment of qualifying, as the track improved, was key. Whilst George improved and went quickest in Q1, Kimi suffered a lock-up on that critical effort and his session was over. George then used the same set of Wet tyres he ran in that first 18 minutes to go fastest in Q2 and we looked set to be in the fight for pole. Unfortunately, just as he was getting into the critical final efforts on the Intermediate tyre, he suffered a power steering issue and that cost him a shot at pole. Whilst he was able to continue, he could only manage P4 which was a valiant effort in the circumstances.

Despite not starting from the best positions, we know there will be plenty of opportunities tomorrow. There are lots of unknowns given the Hard tyre has been seen very little so far, nobody has had the chance to complete much long running, and the track will have another reset overnight. Our pace in the mini long run we completed in FP1 on Thursday looked competitive so we can be hopeful of moving forward and fighting for good points and a decent result.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

We had the pace today to do much better than P4 and P17. The final practice session went well; George finished top of the time sheets and Kimi would have been close behind had it not been for a yellow flag.

Going into qualifying it was much wetter than we had seen in FP3, and it was not possible to get the Intermediates into the working window in the early sessions. That caused us to bring both cars straight back in to take the full Wet. For George the pace was good, although it was difficult to get a clean lap in with yellow and the tricky conditions. Kimi had similar challenges with the yellow flags and was on a lap good enough to progress at the end of the first session when he locked at turn 12 and went straight on. He's obviously disappointed but it was his first wet qualifying and his first ever use of the extreme Wet tyres; he had very good pace in the dry so we're hoping to still score points tomorrow.

George continued to show good pace in the second session and his final lap put him back on top. Unfortunately, we weren't able to repeat that when it really mattered. We had an issue with his power steering half way through the session where it was providing inconsistent levels of assistance. Fearing that the car wouldn't make it to the finish, George continued to push on the penultimate lap, which meant the tyres were too hot starting his final attempt. A frustrating day but we've hopefully got a car with good pace in the dry and both our drivers are looking to move forward tomorrow.

FP3 Result

Qualifying Result