2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix qualifying report and highlights: George Russell charges to pole for Las Vegas Grand Prix over Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly

Q2 – Hamilton on top, Colapinto crashes heavily

Hamilton stated his intentions as the second qualifying phase began, pumping in a 1m 33.136s – marginally quicker than Russell’s Q1 time – to set the pace, with Piastri just one thousandth adrift and Verstappen only six hundredths further back in third position.

Russell then made his move, producing a 1m 32.881s, which compared to an improved 1m 32.965s from team mate Hamilton and low 1m 33s efforts from Leclerc and Verstappen – the latter having spent a few seconds at the top of the times again.

Hamilton got down to a 1m 32.567s on his final run and moved into P1 once more, followed closely by Sainz, Russell, Gasly, Leclerc and Piastri, as Verstappen, Tsunoda, Norris and Hulkenberg managed to put themselves in the other available Q3 spots .

Colapinto’s last-ditch effort to get himself into the pole shootout ended dramatically when he clipped the wall at the inside of Turn 16 and slammed into the barrier on the other side of the track, marking the latest sizeable crash for Williams after their Sao Paulo nightmare .

While Colapinto walked away from a scene littered with debris, mechanics will have a huge job on their hands to complete another round of repairs and enable him to start in P14, around fellow Q2 eliminates Ocon, Magnussen, Zhou (who made it out of Q1 for the first time since Hungary) and Lawson.

Knocked out: Ocon, Magnussen, Zhou, Colapinto, Lawson