LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It was a wet and wild qualifying session at the Las Vegas Grand Prix as drivers tried to navigate the rain in order to get the best positions on the grid.
Ultimately, it was McLaren's Lando Norris that came away with pole position on Friday night. He set the fastest time and beat Red Bull's Max Verstappen by 0.323 seconds. He said that he was surprised by the result.
“The pace has been good all weekend. I think it was going to be good in the dry. I didn't expect to be as good as I was then in the wet," Norris said. "There are a lot of unknowns tomorrow. No one has done much high fuel running. It will be an interesting race, especially with Max up there. Hopefully, we can have a good race tomorrow.”
Williams' Carlos Sainz came in third, Mercedes' George Russell came in fourth, and McLaren's Oscar Piastri rounded out the top five. Sainz said he could definitely feel the love, especially from American fans.
"I think the U.S. fans like a bit of an underdog fight, and they see myself with Williams as an underdog. We've become stronger every race and it's great to see people behind us and supporting us," Sainz said. "I would have loved to give them pole today because we would have got a massive cheer, but we were not quite there."
With rain falling on the circuit, all 20 drivers were struggling with grip issues. Williams' Alex Albon and Haas' Ollie Bearman both bumped into barriers, and we saw multiple drivers slip, and a few went into run-off areas from where we did our 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts at BLVD Las Vegas.
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Verstappen said trying to navigate was like "driving on ice."
"It was really, really slippery out there. It’s already slippery to drive in the wet," Verstappen said. "It’s not fun. I can tell you that."
Perhaps the biggest shock of the session was seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton finishing in last place. It's his worst qualifying result since he joined Ferrari.
"Obviously, it feels horrible. It doesn’t feel good. But all I can do is, I’ve just got to let it go by and try and come back tomorrow. I’ve done everything I could possibly do in terms of preparation, in terms of getting through all the practice sessions," Hamilton said. “Today was feeling amazing. I just didn’t get the lap at the end. But I felt like we were quickest, and then you go and end up qualifying 20th. This year is definitely the hardest year.”
The 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix race is set for Saturday at 8 p.m.