Mercedes driver George Russell feared that he had messed up his chance of taking pole for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, but dug deep on his final run to take top honours on Friday night.
Russell was the last driver out on track in Q3 and managed to take pole from Ferrari's Carlos Sainz with a time of 1:32.312s, heaving set the top time in the final round of practice earlier in the evening.
Russell had also been fastest in the first round of qualifying but was pipped to the top of Q2 by his team mate Lewis Hamilton. It's his fourth career pole and second of 2024, the most recent before this being at Silverstone in July.
“It feels incredible to be back on pole," Russell told the media after the end of the session. "We've been so quick all weekend, and I just knew coming into that last Q3 lap, that's going to be the one that counts.
“It doesn't matter what's happened before then. I had a bit of a moment on my first run, and we had to change the front wing," he pointed out. “There was a moment where I thought we weren't going to make the flag.
Russell admitted that the team's dominant performance this weekend came as a surprise after struggling in Brazil. “We've got to do some deep diving to understand why it's been so quick so far this weekend.”
Russell admitted that leaving it to the wire in Q3 had been a big risk. A late caution could have left him out seriously of position for the start of Saturday night's race.
“You've got to put it on the table sometimes,” he said of the strategy. “I felt confident in myself. I knew if I did a clean lap, it would be enough to secure a front row.
"To get pole position is incredible," he added. “We've had a few good qualifyings recently, now we need to convert that into a win.”
Russell claimed victory in Austria but was disqualified after winning in Belgium for a technical infringement. Hamilton picked up the Spa victory and also won at Silverstone, but currently trails Russell by two points in the championship.
Speaking on F1TV, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff praised Russell, saying: “The weekend has gone so far very good. The car is quick, and we’ve delivered in all of those sessions.
“Last year we weren’t so competitive. I think we qualified third, but in the race we went a bit backwards," he said. "We knew the temperatures would suit us, but the track layout not so much, and then everything worked together.
Wolff said Russell had delivered all weekend. “Turn 3, which is a high-speed corner, we were much quicker than everybody else, so overall good indications."
However Russell's team mate Hamilton suffered problems in the final round of qualifying and will line up for tomorrow's race from P10.
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