Oscar Piastri faces an uphill battle in his Formula 1 title campaign after qualifying fifth for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, while McLaren teammate Lando Norris secured pole position. The Australian's hopes of a top spot were dashed when Charles Leclerc spun in front of him, causing a yellow flag on his final lap in a wet qualifying session on Friday.
Norris posted the fastest lap of the day, 0.323 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen in second place. Piastri, who had led the championship by 34 points after the Dutch Grand Prix in August, now trails Norris by 24 points with three races remaining and a maximum of 83 points available.
“There were a few things as well at the start of the lap that didn’t go great from an operational point of view,” Piastri told Sky Sports. “I had to mess around with a few things that didn’t go how I wanted. I don’t know how much time was in there, it’s difficult to say. But what I can say is there was more out there that we didn’t get to use.”
Piastri had led large parts of the final qualifying session before Norris found his best in the closing minutes. The Australian has only one podium finish since the Dutch Grand Prix. If Norris finishes ahead of Piastri in Saturday's race, he could mathematically secure his maiden world championship in Qatar next week.
“We’ve got a good car underneath us, it seems to be working well in all kinds of conditions,” Piastri said. “I think we can have a strong race tomorrow and hopefully make up some spots.”
Carlos Sainz qualified third for Williams, George Russell fourth for Mercedes, and Liam Lawson sixth. Lewis Hamilton was a major casualty, finishing 20th and last in his Ferrari after a treacherous wet first session.
