After F1’s fraught opening day of action in Las Vegas, both final practice and qualifying ran to plan which culminated in Leclerc taking pole in a Ferrari 1-2 in qualifying.
But Sainz will start the Las Vegas GP from 12th due to a 10-place grid penalty triggered by his Ferrari being wrecked by the dislodged water valve cover in FP1, with the rules stating he had to take the penalty for using an additional energy store despite it being due to a track fault.
Sainz’s penalty promotes Max Verstappen onto the front row for Red Bull with George Russell up to third for Mercedes.
Pierre Gasly also benefits to grab his highest starting position of the season with fourth for Alpine in front of an impressive qualifying for Williams with Alex Albon fifth and Logan Sargeant sixth.
It was a tough qualifying for Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez, both knocked out in Q2, and due to Sainz’s grid drop they will start 10th and 11th respectively.
Lance Stroll picked up a five-place grid drop for overtaking under yellow flags in final practice which relegated him to 19th.
Source: Autosport