McLaren's Lando Norris took pole position in wet qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with teammate and title rival Oscar Piastri only fifth.
Norris beat Red Bull's Max Verstappen, the only driver still weakly in contention for the title, by 0.323 seconds.
Advertising
Williams' Carlos Sainz was third ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and Piastri.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, whose teammate Charles Leclerc was ninth, was 20th, the seven-time champion crashing out in the first session and complaining that he couldn't get his tires to work.
Norris, who leads Piastri by 24 points with three races to go, took his third consecutive pole position, continuing to look like a world champion in waiting.
Dangerous conditions, “like driving on ice”
Conditions were challenging, with the session starting after heavy rain on a track that was wet enough for the extremely wet tires that almost all drivers had used throughout the first two sessions.
Advertising
Norris was not particularly fast on the extreme wet tyres, but on the intermediate tires in the final session he was consistently the fastest driver on track.
Verstappen, usually very strong in the wet, was not quite at the Briton's level, but his second place on the grid makes him a serious threat to the lead into Turn 1 given his usually aggressive start to the race.
Norris suffered a wobble on his final lap when he hit the curb at the chicane of turns 14-15-16, but was still fast enough for pole as others behind him were hit by the yellow flag.
Among them was Piastri, who had to retreat on the last lap.
Advertising
“It was stressful, bloody stressful,” Norris said. “I didn’t know that no one else would lap after me. The first two sectors were good. Once you hit the curb a little wrong it's tough, it snaps one way and then the other, but good enough for pole.
“No one has driven on wet roads here before. After the first part of qualifying, it seemed like you could crash at every corner. One lap at a time. It was difficult.”
Piastri told Sky Sports: “There was still a lot that we weren't able to exploit. We have a good car under us that seems to perform well in all conditions, so we can have a strong race tomorrow and hopefully make up a few positions.”
Verstappen said: “It’s already slippery in the dry, but it’s not fun in the wet. It's more like driving on ice.
Advertising
“I felt we were a little more competitive on the extreme tyres. We weren't competitive enough to fight for pole, but second place is still good.
“Looking forward to tomorrow, I hope that inside [of the grid] in terms of grip everything is fine, but we’ll see.”
Sainz's third-place finish was a strong performance in a car that was not expected to be fast in the wet, but he faces an investigation for an unsafe return in the first session.
Behind Piastri, the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Isak Hajjar were sixth and eighth, separated by Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso.
Leclerc and Alpine's Pierre Gasly finished ninth and 10th.
Advertising
Piastri accepted the decision from Aston Martin to switch Lance Stroll to intermediate tires for the final run of Q2 to thank him for finishing in the top ten.
Stroll had been fast before this, but was unable to get his tires on in time before the end of the session to improve on his previous time.
Hamilton struggled throughout the first session and qualified last on absolute pace for the first time in his career.
“It was very slippery and the first set of tires didn't suit us and for some reason I was just struggling to get the tires warm,” he said.
“It’s a shame because the guys did such a great job and the car was amazing in third practice and I really felt like we had good pace, but then the rain came. Honestly, there's not much to say.”
Lewis Hamilton was almost four seconds slower than Mercedes' George Russell in the first part of qualifying. [Reuters]
Top 10
1. Lando Norris (McLaren)
Advertising
2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
3. Carlos Sainz (Williams)
4. George Russell (Mercedes)
5. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
6. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
7. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
8. Isak Hajar (Racing Bulls)
9. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
10. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
