00:00An incredibly fast turn in to the final corner, they cheat across the inside kerb
00:06and then into the pit straight, it's a short pit straight actually after all that
00:11and Perez, disappointingly for him, only dropped into fourth.
00:15And just ahead are Liam Lawson in the RV, we're on board with Oscar Piastri
00:19fastest overall in the middle sector.
00:22Max Verstappen just on a preparation lap, Lewis Hamilton fastest in the first sector
00:28and very competitive in the middle part of the lap, 200 miles an hour,
00:32round the final corner, here comes Oscar Piastri, a 1.34.0
00:36That's why they always spark, despite not having much fuel on board
00:39in the early stages of qualifying.
00:41Sergio Perez finishes a lap, goes only 12th fastest,
00:44Carlos Sainz moves up into the top 2
00:47and Max Verstappen's gone quickest through the middle sector,
00:50we can pick him up here through turn 15 and 16,
00:54threading that Red Bull through that impossibly tight section.
00:58Now, 8th gear and seriously, 200 miles an hour
01:02and it looks so, so easy as he goes 4th fastest overall.
01:06I love the sound of the engine singing down the back straight in top gear.
01:11Everything, especially in this cool air, it really makes
01:14the internal combustion engine part of it just sing.
01:18Russell and Hamilton absolutely flying currently
01:23As we get now to the final corner with Lewis Hamilton,
01:26goes quickest with a 1.33.2, 0.07 ahead of Max Verstappen.
01:32Here comes George Russell, his teammate, to replace Hamilton at the top.
01:35Sergio Perez, the driver in the bottom 5.
01:39To get at risk, Sergio Perez has dropped out of the top 15,
01:44been replaced by Yuki Tsunoda in the RB
01:47And that is another poor, poor night in qualifying for Sergio Perez.
01:52And bad news for Red Bull in the Constructors' Championship as well
01:55in terms of potential tomorrow to score from that second car.
02:00Here comes Lance Stroll, a 26.8 and a 31.4 for the first two sectors.
02:05Not going to be enough to be troubling the top of the timing charts here.
02:08Is it enough, though, to get him out of the bottom 5? It isn't.
02:12He qualifies 20th after qualifying 19th here last year.
02:16Disappointing evening for Lance Stroll.
02:19Zac Brown is with us there at CEO. He's on the pit wall.
02:23As we just see Kevin Magnussen first.
02:26A quick replay to show just how little grip there is out there.
02:29Zac, how was that Q1 session for you?
02:32Oh, that was OK. We were just starting our second run
02:35and I don't think we got the optimum operating temperature.
02:38So either driver got their first sector optimized,
02:42but we made it through comfortably.
02:44And I think we should be fine for Q3.
02:49The Mercedes continue to look very quick.
02:51Max is being the world champion. He is.
02:53And the Ferraris look good.
02:55So it's going to be very close for Mercedes.
02:57They certainly seem to be the class of the field as well.
02:59And Nico Hülkenberg is pushing hard, though.
03:02A 1.33.2 from him. He goes fastest.
03:04Colopinso, third fastest as he completes his lap.
03:07Lewis Hamilton making his way to the final corner now.
03:11Fastest in the first sector that we've seen so far.
03:14And goes quickest overall.
03:16Comes Max Verstappen.
03:18He's really wringing his neck.
03:20Yeah.
03:21Just short of overdriving it.
03:23Max is really thrashing that car and goes fastest.
03:27By 0.05 of a second.
03:30George Russell then.
03:31Around that swooping left-hander he comes.
03:33And he puts a bit of daylight between himself and Max Verstappen
03:36by 0.2 of a second.
03:38And we can see Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton out on the track.
03:42Hamilton finishing his lap under a tenth behind his teammate.
03:45Sainz is making his way right now around the final corner.
03:50Only fifth fastest.
03:51They're the frontrunners we're expecting.
03:53So who's going to have a surprise?
03:55I mean, Leclerc, he should pop that up into the front.
04:00Top three it is now as well.
04:02Teammate George Russell and Carlos Sainz
04:04then slots in in between the two Mercedes.
04:07Here comes Joe Guadagno.
04:09Valiant effort.
04:10By 0.08 of a second he misses out on the top ten.
04:14That's a pretty slow moving.
04:16Liam Lawson coming into the pits.
04:20Lawson just wasn't finding the pace maybe.
04:22Sonoda goes fastest and that's Franco Gallopinto.
04:25And for the first time this weekend we have had a driver hit the wall.
04:29Gasly goes fourth fastest as the Williams splatters to a halt.
04:34Not another Williams in the wall.
04:36And that is exactly what everyone around the world is probably saying now
04:41and what those mechanics in the garage feared the most this weekend.
04:47Five accidents in the last two races
04:50and Gallopinto I'm glad to say is OK
04:54but he's added to the crash damage bill
04:56with a skirmish into the wall here in Vegas tonight.
04:59Was there contact between the two cars?
05:04That's an Alpina head.
05:07Oh, he's hit the wall.
05:09He clipped the wall on the inside.
05:13Yeah, just a total judgment error there.
05:16It's just turned in too much.
05:19That's the sort of thing we see in Monaco through the Swingpool chicane.
05:23Drivers will hit the armco, that will move.
05:27Concrete block is not going to move.
05:31Yeah, that was just pure judgmental error, I'm afraid.
05:36And wow, what a lot of damage.
05:41So he's hit the wall at well over 25g because the medical car was deployed.
05:46And look how far that skidded.
05:50For the second successive race, Franco Gallopinto has crashed in qualifying.
05:56He doesn't waste any time refuelling in this Q3, the shortened Q3,
06:00or the shorter Q3, I should say, into the pit straight.
06:04And a 33.5 is nowhere near where he needs to be.
06:08Yeah, half a second down on his best time in Q2.
06:11Carlos Sainz, meanwhile, purple, purple,
06:14as Lando Norris goes up three tenths faster
06:17than his team mate into provisional pole.
06:20Sainz crosses the line.
06:22So across the line at the moment, Leclerc crosses the line first
06:25with a 1.33.7.
06:27George Russell on the approach then to the final corner.
06:30George Russell is fastest in the final practice session.
06:33He's had two poles this year in Canada and Britain,
06:36and by two tenths of a second goes on to provisional pole
06:39as we approach the halfway stage of this Q3 session.
06:43He's got pole and beat his team mate in qualifying
06:46by about four one hundredths of a second.
06:49Forty-four thousandths of a second.
06:51Oh, dear.
06:53To be accurate, that is car number 44
06:57having a big lock-up.
07:02No harm done.
07:03Gasly hit the wall and checked out his car.
07:06I couldn't see anything wrong with his car when it came back in.
07:09The mechanics have checked it out at Alpine all as well.
07:11Gasly's rejoined the track now.
07:14Yeah, we can see where Leclerc had to abandon
07:17turn seven.
07:19He never really made the first part of that
07:22and put him wide.
07:24A little bit of extra mechanical grip from the tyre
07:26should help him.
07:27George Russell at turn five.
07:31Did he just skid the wall?
07:32Yes, he did.
07:33Yeah, I hit the wall exit of five.
07:39He was sliding his way towards the concrete
07:41and he's banged it quite hard there.
07:44Piastri currently racing towards it.
07:46His final flying lap.
07:48Where does the young Australian put himself on the grid?
07:51Currently provisional P3.
07:54Russell has been mighty fast in the first sector
07:57on this current lap.
07:59He's currently fastest too, as you can see.
08:01Lando Norris goes onto the front row
08:03with the fastest final sector
08:05and a very fine lap from him.
08:07Here comes Charles Leclerc, provisional pole
08:09as Nico Hülkenberg goes sixth fastest.
08:13Now Lewis Hamilton.
08:15This is the lap that will count for him
08:17and it's only tenth fastest for Lewis Hamilton
08:19as Carlos Sainz goes onto provisional pole.
08:22Pierre Gasly, as the track ramps up,
08:25puts his Alpine on the front row.
08:28Yuki Tsunoda goes sixth fastest
08:30and it's between Verstappen and Russell
08:32to try and deny Sainz here.
08:34Here comes Verstappen round the final corner.
08:37Second row for the Red Bull.
08:39Where's George Russell?
08:41He is approaching at 200 miles an hour
08:44the final corner
08:46and goes onto pole position.
08:48George Russell has done it
08:50for Mercedes to take pole here in Vegas
08:54and he's done it by less than a tenth of a second.
09:12Here comes Sainz.
09:14Sainz is in front.
09:16Sainz is in front.
09:18Sainz is in front.
09:20Sainz is in front.
09:22Sainz is in front.
09:24Sainz is in front.
09:26Sainz is in front.
09:28Sainz is in front.
09:30Sainz is in front.
09:32Sainz is in front.
09:34Sainz is in front.
09:36Sainz is in front.
09:38Sainz is in front.
09:40Sainz is in front.
09:42Sainz is in front.
09:44Sainz is in front.
09:46Sainz is in front.
09:48Sainz is in front.
09:50Sainz is in front.
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