F1 LIVE | Qualifying for the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix

Qualifying for the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix is about to start. Will Max Verstappen put his Red Bull on pole in the gambling city, or will Ferrari challenge him once again in qualifying? Perhaps Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz can secure pole. Drivers at McLaren, Mercedes and Aston Martin will also attempt to get pole position. Follow the action in the liveblog below.

F1 LIVE | Qualifying for Las Vegas

Tough start in Vegas

Formula 1 hopes for a better day than yesterday during the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend. A track issue meant a cancelled FP1 session and then a heavily delayed FP2 session. The second session was extended by 30 minutes, but the teams and drivers are still down on run time. FP3 was completed earlier today.

Friday in Vegas was a disaster, but all is not lost for the sport's first trip to the gambling city in 40 years. The meaningful sessions will begin with qualifying. The circuit is very green and cold. That means little grip will be available for drivers, so working out the braking points is challenging for everyone.

Charles Leclerc set the pace at the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend, taking P1 in a 90-minute FP2 session. In a busy session where all drivers set over 30 laps, the Monegasque driver finished five-tenths quicker than his teammate, Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard was able to return to the track after sustaining extreme damage to his car due to hitting a water valve cover in FP1.

Fernando Alonso was also able to underline his fantastic one-lap pace on the softs behind the wheel of his Aston Martin. The Spaniard could not find the extra speed needed to beat out Leclerc, but he was always within a tenth of a second of P1. He finished in P3 as the chequered flag fell.

The Red Bull of Sergio Perez could only finish up in P4, with his teammate Verstappen only good enough for P6, with the Red Bulls split by the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas, who put in a fantastic lap to finish in the top five. For Mercedes and McLaren, only Lewis Hamilton finished in the top ten in P9, meaning there is lots of work to do to jump into the top five.