George Russell on pole in Las Vegas, Max Verstappen ahead of Lando Norris

George Russell left it late to take pole position for Mercedes at the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Friday as Red Bull's Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen qualified ahead of McLaren rival Lando Norris.

Verstappen, who will seal a fourth successive championship on Saturday if he beats Norris, will line up fifth with Briton Norris sixth and alongside him on the third row.

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz joined Russell at the front with Alpine's Pierre Gasly an impressive and surprising third fastest while Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was fourth.

Russell had been on provisional pole after the first flying laps but he left the best to last as others went faster on an improving track.

Russell's final effort of one minute 32.312 seconds was 0.098 quicker than Sainz, who had set the pace after an earlier best from Leclerc.

"I knew coming into that last Q3 lap, that would be the one that counts, it doesn't matter what happened before then," said Russell, who was fastest in final practice and brushed the wall with his first effort.

"I had a bit of a moment on my first run. We had to change my front wing. There was a moment I thought we wouldn't make the flag.

"You have to put it on the table sometimes. I felt confident in myself and knew if I did a clean lap, I would be on the front row."

The pole was his third of the season and fourth of his career.

Yuki Tsunoda qualified seventh for RB with Norris's team mate Oscar Piastri eighth and Nico Hulkenberg ninth for Haas.

Seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton, fastest in Thursday practice for Mercedes, was only 10th after misjudging his first effort and running wide before then having his second attempt deleted for exceeding track limits.

"I'm really quite far back so we'll see what we can do