George Russell took pole for the Las Vegas Grand Prix in a hard-fought Q3 session as champion-elect Max Verstappen finished fifth ahead of rival Lando Norris.

Russell was the last driver to set a time in Q3, and his resulting effort of 1.32.312 seconds was enough to put him ahead of provisional polesitter Carlos Sainz in the last order.

The Briton had led the opening runs of the session, setting a time of 1.32.811 minutes before the final ten drivers changed tires as Q2 headliner Lewis Hamilton had abandoned his lap after a mistake at Turn 14 .

The following runs put Russell’s previous time under scrutiny; Charles Leclerc set a 1m32.783s to move ahead, although Sainz found another three-tenths ahead of his teammate to claim first place.

However, Russell managed to make one last attempt to take pole, claiming the front row advantage over Sainz.

Pierre Gasly was excellent in his bid to finish third on the grid, allowing the Alpine driver to split the Ferrari duo on Saturday.

Verstappen and Norris completed the third row, while Yuki Tsunoda set the seventh fastest time over Oscar Piastri. Nico Hulkenberg finished ninth, just 0.750 seconds off Russell’s pole lap.

Hamilton was unable to set a representative time; although he completed a second lap, he lost the rear at Turn 4 and understeered off track, leading to the lap time being dropped. Regardless, it was only good enough for 10th and if he had repeated his Q2 time he would have been third.

Q2 was ended by Franco Colapinto’s heavy crash exiting Turn 16, although most drivers had already completed their final runs before he caused the interruption and delay.

The Argentinian wedged the inside of the barrier and was forcefully spat into the opposite wall, robbing his Williams of three corners and also causing heavy damage elsewhere, further driving up the team’s repair costs.

Esteban Ocon had not been able to improve enough to get into the top 10 when teammate Gasly crawled through at the last minute, eliminating Kevin Magnussen.

Zhou Guanyu made a rare appearance in Q2 and managed to set the 13th fastest time, as Colapinto was in 14th place after his accident. Liam Lawson’s final attempt at a lap was abandoned when he retired to the pits, resulting in 15th place.

Sergio Perez was left out of the qualifying reckoning again in Q1, complaining of a lack of grip in his Red Bull RB20 as a series of late improvements pushed him towards the drop zone.

So he will be 16th on Saturday’s grid, ahead of Fernando Alonso. Neither Aston Martin made it to Q1, as Lance Stroll was also sent to the exit as the slowest entrant, as his car was repaired after an FP3 power stop. seemed to turn off.

Alex Albon and Valtteri Bottas were also eliminated at the first hurdle and Bottas will start last in the Grand Prix due to a grid penalty.

Photos from the GP training and qualifying in Las Vegas