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You'd be forgiven for expecting a peaky Mercedes not to grab pole position for Formula 1's Las Vegas Grand Prix despite its prodigious practice form, but George Russell delivered in a qualifying session that's produced an unusual grid order.
Mercedes grabbed its first pole in 10 races - George Russell at Silverstone - to take a surprise pole no one was predicting in the build-up to the race weekend, even Mercedes itself. And it still doesn't really understand how it did it, either.
Ferrari may have been the more likely expected pole winner but it can take a consolation prize in having both cars ahead of both McLarens in its bid to close a 36-point gap in the constructors' championship over the last three races.
And speaking of the constructors' fight, after Brazil last time out when Alpine scored a double podium that vaulted it from ninth to sixth in the standings, Pierre Gasly delivered an unbelievable third on the grid here in Vegas.
That contrasts with the woe of Williams. Alpine demoted it to ninth in the constructors' last time out - remember, that championship decides prize money worth tens of millions of pounds - and it had Alex Albon out in Q1 and Franco Colapinto adding to three crashes for the team in Brazil by smashing another car and needing a pre-race medical examination to see if he can even race.
Yuki Tsunoda scored another Q3 appearance and was seventh, with Nico Hulkenberg in ninth. Both will be looking to chase down Gasly's Alpine with Haas and RB three and five points behind Alpine in the points respectively.
And what of the drivers' championship? Max Verstappen starts fifth, one spot ahead of Lando Norris. What does he need to do tomorrow? Finish ahead of Norris tomorrow and Verstappen will be a four-time champion.
Max Verstappen is on the brink of taking home his fourth successive F1 championship.
— The Race (@wearetherace) November 21, 2024
His first opportunity to claim the title is at this weekend's Las Vegas GP ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/MWfWyNB18m
Valtteri Bottas has a five-place grid penalty for exceeding the allowed number of energy stores aboard his Sauber this season. That will only drop him behind Lance Stroll as he was second slowest in qualifying.
Provisional Las Vegas GP starting grid
1 Russell
2 Sainz
3 Gasly
4 Leclerc
5 Verstappen
6 Norris
7 Tsunoda
8 Piastri
9 Hulkenberg
10 Hamilton
11 Ocon
12 Magnussen
13 Zhou
14 Colapinto*
15 Lawson
16 Perez
17 Alonso
18 Albon
19 Bottas**
20 Stroll
*needs to pass a pre-race medical exam after Q2 crash
**five-place grid penalty for exceeding power unit component limit
