Charles Leclerc has been the clear one classification dominator of the Las Vegas GP F1 2023 and has achieved his fifth pole of the season and the 23rd of his career in Formula 1. The Monegasque driver had no rival within one lap, although his teammate Carlos Sainz was only 44 thousandths behind. However, the Madrid driver will start twelfth in the race due to a 10-place penalty that he has been carrying since his incident with the sewer in the first free practice. A moral blow for him, considering that he had no fault in the impact.
Fernando Alonso, for his part, has had to settle for tenth place, although tomorrow he will start in ninth position after winning one due to the penalty to Sainz. His teammate Lance Stroll, who was eliminated in Q2, will also have to serve a five-place penalty for overtaking with yellow flags in the third Free Practice.
Las Vegas GP. Classification and Grill:
1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1’32″726
2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1’33″104
3. George Russell (Mercedes) 1’33″112
4. Pierre Gasly (Alpine 1’33″239
5. Alexander Albon (Williams) 1’33″323
6. Logan Sargeant (Williams) 1’33″513
7. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) 1’33″525
8. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) 1’33″537
9. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 1’33″555
10. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1’33″837
11. Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) 1’33″855
12. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) 1’32″770 (-10 P)
13. Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) 1’33″979
14. Daniel Ricciardo (AlphaTauri) 1’33″308
15, Lando Norris (McLaren) 1’34″703
16. Esteban Ocon (Alpine) 1’34″834
17. Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo) 1’34″849
18. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 1’34″850
19. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) 1’33″199 (-5 P)
20. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) 1’36″44
* Sainz, sanctioned with ten positions for using one more battery than allowed per season.
** Stroll, penalized with five positions for overtaking with a double yellow flag in FP3.