Both FP3 and qualifying took place in wet weather conditions for the first time in Las Vegas' short F1 history.

Despite finishing FP3 in an unusual P19 and P20, McLaren were once again the team to beat in qualifying as Lando Norris claimed his third pole position in a row. Max Verstappen will start Saturday's race alongside him on the front row, with Carlos Sainz close behind in an impressive P3 for the Williams team.

George Russell set the pace in FP3 as well as Q1 and Q2 but qualified only P4, citing a steering issue in the final session. He starts ahead of Oscar Piastri in P5 who said he lost out due to yellow flags.

Behind the two Racing Bulls and Fernando Alonso finished Charles Leclerc, who gave a damning verdict about Ferrari's constructors' championship chances after he qualified only P9.

Extreme wet tyres were used by teams in Q1 and Q2 as some of the biggest names missed out on Friday. Lewis Hamilton was the big shock of the day as he qualified dead last and will start the race from P20. Yuki Tsunoda and Kimi Antonelli also missed out in Q1, finishing P19 and P17 respectively.

The drivers battled a wet and slippery track surface during qualifying and much was made of the difficult conditions.

Verstappen sarcastically compared the conditions to an ice rink and said the only time he had faced conditions like that was in Turkey in 2020.

Unsurprisingly, Hamilton said he could not get the tyres working for him and admitted that the current season is definitely the hardest of his career.

Russell also complained of the slippery conditions and proposed a change which could help ensure that the tyres behave more predictably to the range of circuits F1 races on across the duration of a season.

Pole position for Norris puts him in the driving seat on Saturday and moves him one step closer to the world championship in 2025.

With just three races remaining he leads teammate Piastri by 24 points and Verstappen by 49. Should he outscore Verstappen by 10 points or more on Sunday, he will be mathematically out of contention and forced to relinquish his crown.

A dry weather forecast for race day does however bring a degree of uncertainty as teams have enjoyed limited dry long distance running so far this weekend. Similarly, the dry conditions could shake up a starting grid set in the rain, with the potential for it to favour teams like Red Bull, who enjoy a car with strong top speed performance.

Tune in for the race at 04:00 (GMT) and follow GPBlog's live blog for all of the action.

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