Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda made the same ‘strange’ claim after Las Vegas Grand Prix qualifying

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Max Verstappen qualified P2 for the 2025 F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday, as Red Bull teammate Yuki Tsunoda only got P19 while the rain was at its heaviest in Sin City.

Fortunes were very contrasting on the two sides of the Red Bull garage in Vegas. McLaren’s Lando Norris scored pole position for the Las Vegas GP with a 1:47.934 in the final stages, as he eclipsed the 1:48.257 provisional pole time that Verstappen had posted moments before.

Norris may have set a quicker time around the Las Vegas Strip Circuit had the Briton not had a snap of oversteer as he applied the throttle at Turn 16. The 26-year-old is the first driver to record three consecutive pole positions in the 2025 F1 season, after his seventh of the term.

Verstappen’s P2 also now gives the four-time reigning drivers’ champion a 20-0 lead against Tsunoda in their 2025 F1 teammate qualifying head-to-head. Tsunoda only managed to set a 1:56.798 during Q1, with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton the only driver slower at the Las Vegas GP.

Yuki Tsunoda found the track conditions in qualifying for the Las Vegas GP in the rain ‘strange’

Verstappen finished Q1 in P2 to Mercedes star George Russell by 0.314s, after they set times of 1:53.144 and 1:53.458. The first phase of qualifying for the Las Vegas GP saw the worst of the track conditions after heavy rain drenched Sin City and required the full wet Pirelli tyres.

READ MORE: Everything to know about the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, including past winners

The conditions in Q1 caught several drivers out, with Williams’ Alex Albon crashing, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc running off and McLaren’s Norris noting over his radio “I can’t keep it on the track” after aquaplaning. Tsunoda also said the conditions in Q1 in Las Vegas were “strange”.

Tsunoda told BBC Sport: “It was very tricky but, at the same time, I don’t know why but I just struggled with the grip overall. It was very strange, like ice. I don’t know what has happened specifically, but clearly something isn’t working.”

Max Verstappen echoes Yuki Tsunoda by likening the Las Vegas GP conditions to ‘driving on ice’

Like his Red Bull teammate Tsunoda, Verstappen compared the track conditions in Q1 at the Las Vegas GP to “driving on ice”. The 28-year-old has proven his talent in difficult conditions in the past, yet even he did not like trying to improve his lap time around Sin City in the rain.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

Verstappen said during the post-qualifying interview: “It was really, really slippery out there. It is already slippery in the dry but, in the wet, it’s not fun, I can tell you that. I like to drive in the wet. This felt more like driving on ice, so it took a long time to get the tyres to work.”

It was nearly impossible for drivers to complete a lap during Q1 at the Las Vegas GP without having at least one snap of oversteer as they got on the throttle. The left-right-left chicane at Turns 14-15-16 was especially difficult, despite being one of the slowest points of the circuit.

Additionally, the track conditions add another layer to the question marks around the track’s presence in Formula 1. Haas gem Oliver Bearman called the Las Vegas GP “dangerous” due to the “incredibly” high speeds that F1 cars can achieve on the streets of Sin City in the dry.