George Russell delivered an impressive pole position for Mercedes ahead of Ferrari's Carlos Sainz for this weekend's night race in Las Vegas.
Pierre Gasly flew to third for Alpine ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc while title contenders Max Verstappen and Lando Norris had to settle for the third row.
The news wasn't so good for Sergio Perez who missed the first cut leaving the Red Bull in P16; or for Williams' Franco Colapinto, who crashed at the end of Q2.
It was time for the late show in Las Vegas with qualifying taking place in the dead of night. Mercedes had proved surprisingly strong so far with George Russell topping FP3 completing a sweep of practice, but McLaren and Ferrari had run them close and Max Verstappen was on the rise after a difficult first day for Red Bull.
Q1: Mercedes back on top as Perez misses the first cut
Qualifying got underway with soft-shod Alpine pair Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon and Williams' Franco Colapinto. Sauber team mates Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu also wasted no time getting out along with McLaren pair Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Gasly went top on a time of 1:34.509s before the McLaren drivers took over, Piastri edging Norris by just 0.03s. Hamilton then clocked in to third, a tenth and a half further back while Verstappen was only fifth, three tenths off on his first run. Leclerc was next to go top, less than a tenth clear of Piastri, but times were tumbling and no one could feel safe of making the cut at this point.
Piastri and Norris reclaimed the top but Carlos Sainz' first run in the Ferrari split the papaya pair in P2. Then Russell lowered the benchmark further with 1:33.363s, and Leclerc threaded the needle to go back to second less than a tenth behind. Haas were late to come out to play, but with less than four minutes remaining Kevin Magnussen went ninth before Nico Hulkenberg promptly ousted him
No one felt safe with even McLaren breaking out a second set of softs as a precaution. Verstappen had gone top with his latest run but the Mercedes pair soon took back P1 and P2, Russell quickest on 1:33.186s four hundredths quicker than Hamilton., both a tenth quicker than Verstappen.
At the other end, RB's Liam Lawson left it late to scramble to safety in 15th, but Red Bull's Sergio Perez missed the cut along with Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon and Valtteri Bottas whose team mate Zhou had made it through to Q2. Lance Stroll was the final driver to be eliminated after Aston Martin spent the session trying to fix ERS issues on the AMR24 leaving him with just a single Hail Mary attempt to set a time.
Q2: Hamilton keeps Mercedes in charge as Colapinto crashes out
The lights soon went green for the second round to reduce the field further from 15 to ten cars. Verstappen was first out but went for a second warm-up leaving Russell to go top despite running old soft tyres. Hamilton promptly displaced him with a time of 1:33.136s despite also starting on used tyres.
Soon there were quick times from Piastri (just one thousandth of a second off Hamilton) and Verstappen who went half a second ahead of Hamilton. Both Mercedes pitted for fresh softs and despite lacking a tow Russell promptly set two purple sectors to go back in front on 1:32.881s, Hamilton slotting in to P2 less than a tenth behind.
With just a minute remaining, Leclerc was third while Sainz could only manage sixth. At most risk of being bumped out of the top ten were Hulkenberg, Yuki Tsunoda and Magnussen with Gasly, Colapinto and Ocon on the outside looking in. Hamilton went top from Russell by two tenths on 1:32.567s, Sainz splitting the Mercedes pair to go P2 and Gasly powering to fourth ahead of Leclerc and Piastri. Verstappen had been pushed down to seventh but was safety through along with Tsunoda, Norris and Hulkenberg.
Less successful in his bid to make Q3 was Colapinto who turned in too early into turn 15 and clipped the wall, broken suspension then sending him into a damaging impact with the outside of turn 16. The accident left wreckage scattered over the circuit like confetti with the Williams mechanics facing another long night. The other drivers to fail to make it through to the final round were Ocon, Magnussen (who had been forced to abort his final lap), Zhou and Lawson.
Q3: Russell clinches pole from Sainz as Hamilton slumps to P10 on the grid
There was a lengthy delay while marshals cleared up the track and repaired the wall. It was after 11pm local time before the final round could get underway. Everyone was eager to get going when the lights went green, Piastri first to set a time of 1:33.520s but promptly ousted from P1 by Norris who in turn was beaten by Sainz by two tenths.
Verstappen went for a second warm-up before moving into P2, and then it was Russell top on 1:32.811s. However Hamilton had to back off after making an error and taking to the run off. Gasly clipped the wall on his initial run but was still faster than the McLarens.
After a brief lull, Piastri was first back out to start his final flying lap followed by Norris and Leclerc. There was a plaintive radio message from Hamilton saying he had lost the rear, consigning the Mercedes to tenth, but there was success for Russell as he left it late to set a time of 1:32.312s to go a tenth ahead of a mighty effort from Sainz. Gasly's final lap put him P3 on the grid alongside an improved Leclerc. That left Verstappen fifth with Norris next to him on the grid ahead of Tsunoda, Piastri, Hulkenberg and Hamilton.
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