George Russell secured his third pole position of the season in Las Vegas, outpacing Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly in a qualifying session delayed by Williams rookie Franco Colapinto's crash.

A heavy crash by Colapinto at Turn 16 caused a 20-minute delay before Q3, with track temperatures dropping to 57°F. Russell claimed pole with a time of 1m32.312s, beating Sainz by 0.098s despite the Spaniard's two-lap warm-up strategy.

Alpine's Pierre Gasly delivered a standout performance to qualify third, marking the team's best qualifying result of the season. Charles Leclerc placed fourth, while championship winner Max Verstappen settled for fifth position.

The top 10 was completed by:

• Lando Norris (McLaren) - 6th
• Yuki Tsunoda (RB) - 7th
• Oscar Piastri (McLaren) - 8th
• Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) - 9th
• Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) - 10th

Notable developments included Sergio Perez's elimination in Q1 (16th position) and Williams facing another repair challenge following Colapinto's crash - their sixth major incident in three events.

Valtteri Bottas will start from the back of the grid due to an energy store change penalty, while Lance Stroll managed only one flying lap after mechanical issues in FP3 required an energy recovery system change.

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