Carlos Sainz nearly grabbed pole in wild Las Vegas qualifying
Carlos Sainz came tantalizingly close to putting his Williams on pole position during a wet and slippery Las Vegas GP qualifying session.
“It was a very good lap. I thought it was a pole-worthy lap,” Sainz said after securing third on the grid.
For a brief moment, Williams fans dared to dream as Sainz topped the timing screens before Max Verstappen and eventual polesitter Lando Norris squeezed past him in the final moments.
“When I closed the lap, I saw myself in P1, and then I realised I was the first car across the flag,” he explained. “Maybe that was not going to last very long with these two guys coming behind, but it felt like a really good quali.”
The Spanish driver’s P3 briefly hung in the balance after stewards summoned him for potentially impeding Lance Stroll in Q1. After reviewing the incident, officials decided no action was necessary.
Had Sainz held onto pole, it would have been Williams’ first since the 2014 Austrian GP, when Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas locked out the front row with a historic 1-2.
## Williams shine in challenging conditions
Many drivers called the Las Vegas conditions among the most difficult they’ve ever faced. Verstappen admitted they were “not a lot of fun to drive,” while George Russell even suggested F1 should change the rules to make tires more usable in such tricky conditions.
Sainz actually felt more comfortable in the extreme wet.
“I think we were more competitive on the extreme wet tyres in Q1 and Q2. I wish it would have stayed extreme wet because that was the tyre that gave me the best feeling and the best confidence,” he said.
“Every time we were hitting the board, we were P1.”
He was surprised by his pace on intermediate tires after struggling in final practice.
“On Inters I was expecting to go slower given our FP3 performance wasn’t great, and in the end it turned out to be just fine.”
While Sainz thrived in the challenging conditions, his teammate Alex Albon found found trouble in Q1, hitting the wall and bringing out yellow flags. He’ll start Saturday’s Grand Prix from a disappointing P16.
This qualifying result marks Sainz’s second-best grid position since joining Williams. He previously qualified P2 in Azerbaijan, which he converted into a podium finish in Baku.
Can he repeat that podium success in Vegas? The race promises plenty of excitement with Sainz starting right behind championship contenders Verstappen and Norris.
