Lando Norris takes pole in rainy Las Vegas qualifying, Verstappen bumped to second

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Formula 1's title contenders mastered the wet and slick Las Vegas Strip in a rainy Friday night qualifying session that saw championship leader Lando Norris take pole.

Norris of McLaren took the top starting spot at the Las Vegas Grand Prix at the line after four-time reigning world champion Max Verstappen had jumped to the top of the board. But the Red Bull driver, who won the inaugural Las Vegas race in 2023 and took his fourth straight title last year was only there a few moments before Norris bumped him down a stop.

“Boy it was stressful as hell,” Norris said. “It was pretty nasty, probably some of the worst conditions, if not the worst. It was so slippery, so difficult.”

Carlos Sainz Jr. briefly flirted with giving Williams its first pole since 2014 but was quickly knocked down to third by Norris and Verstappen. Norris has won three consecutive poles since reclaiming control of the championship race.

He takes a 24-point lead over McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri into Saturday night's race, which will be Norris' 150th career start — a mark that ties him for most in team history with David Coulthard.

Piastri qualified fifth, one spot behind defending race winner George Russell of Mercedes, as the Australian's second-half of the season struggles continue. Piastri dominated the early part of the season but has not won a race since the final day of August and has just one podium finish in the six races since.

Piastri was in contention for the pole until a yellow flag ended his run.

“We were quick, there was no doubt about that,” Piastri said. “One was or another, things seem to not be going the way I want at the moment. At least I can say the pace was good out there.”

There are three races remaining in the season.

The first group had a shocking result as Alex Albon hit the wall with just seconds remaining, and then Kimi Antonelli, who had been fast through three practice sessions, was eliminated alongside Lewis Hamilton, runner-up in this race a year ago.

Hamilton was slowest in the 20-driver field to continue the struggles he's faced in his first year driving for Ferrari.

“Couldn't get the tires to work,” Hamilton said of the wet track.

Hamilton and teammate Charles Leclerc both failed to finish in Brazil two weeks ago, which drew the ire of Ferrari executive chairman John Elkann, who criticized the duo and said "it’s not up to standards. It’s important that our drivers focus on driving and talk less.”

The rain that has drenched the city almost the entire week is expected to move out before Saturday night's race, a relief for the drivers who have not experienced the challenges of a wet track at Las Vegas in its previous two runnings.

“It was really slippery out there, it's not fun,” Verstappen said. “I don't mind driving in the wet, but this, for me, is a little too much. You have to be super careful and honestly I was surprised that there were not too many incidents. Everyone was behaving, maybe scared?”

Sainz was the surprise qualifier and based on the crowd reaction a thrilling one. He said he was briefly excited when he crossed the line and saw he was fastest.

“I closed the lap, I saw myself in P1 and then I realized I was the first car across the line," Sainz said. "I knew maybe that wasn't going to last very long with these two guys coming behind.”

Sainz said the rain and wet track helped him with his qualifying effort but he doesn't expect Williams to be as competitive if it is indeed dry on Saturday night.

“The wet allowed us to shine a bit more. I don't think in the dry that would have been possible,” Sainz said. “I don't expect, if the race is dry, to be able to hold P3.”

Norris said he took a nap after the third practice session and expected the rain would be over in time for qualifying, only to awaken to the persistent poor weather.

“My thoughts were to just keep it in one piece, not so easy in the wet conditions,” Norris said. “It's very difficult to get that confidence to go fast in qualifying.”

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McLaren driver Lando Norris of Great Britain celebrates after a qualifying session at the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix auto race, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025 in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

From left, second place finisher Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands, first place finisher McLaren driver Lando Norris of Great Britain, and third place finisher Williams driver Carlos Sainz of Spain pose for a photo after a qualifying session at the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix auto race, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025 in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands drives during a qualifying session at the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix auto race, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025 in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

McLaren driver Lando Norris of Great Britain during a qualifying session at the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix auto race, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025 in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran hit a tanker off the coast of Qatar and Kuwait International Airport early Wednesday as Tehran remained unrelenting in its attacks on its Gulf Arab neighbors, while acknowledging for the first time that Washington had been in direct contact about a possible ceasefire.

Israel sounded warnings of incoming fire from both Yemen and Iran, while launching its own attacks in Lebanon that killed at least five people.

An airstrike on Tehran appeared to have hit the former U.S. Embassy compound, which has been controlled by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard since the 1979 hostage crisis. Witnesses said buildings outside the massive compound had their windows blown out and that it appears the strike happened inside the walled facility.

With no sign of the war abating and more than 3,000 lives already lost, U.S. President Donald Trump suggested it could be over within two weeks even as he moved to bring thousands more troops to the region.

Trump has been under growing pressure to end the war as Iran’s grip on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and its attacks on regional energy infrastructure have sent gas prices skyrocketing to their highest level since 2022 and caused broad stock market fluctuations.

Iran throttled ship traffic through the strait, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, after it was attacked by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28. In peacetime, a fifth of the world’s oil transits the strait and the spot price of Brent crude, the international standard, is up more than 40% since the start of the war, trading at more than $104 a barrel.

The U.S. has presented Iran with a 15-point plan aimed at bringing about a ceasefire, which includes a demand for the strait to be reopened. Iran’s own five-point response includes it retaining sovereignty over the waterway, and Trump on Tuesday suggested that the war could be brought to an end even with Iran still controlling the strait.

The U.S. “will not have anything to do with” what happens in the Strait of Hormuz, instead telling reporters that the responsibility for keeping the vital waterway open would belong with countries that rely on it.

“That’s not for us. That’ll be for France. That’ll be for whoever’s using the strait,” Trump said.

It was not clear why Trump brought up France, since Europe receives very little oil shipped through the strait, with most going to Asian countries. The president plans a prime-time address on Wednesday.

Trump, who has vacillated between insisting there is progress in diplomatic talks with Iran and threatening to widen the war, added that the U.S. is “finishing the job” in Iran and predicted it will be “maybe two weeks, maybe a couple of days longer to do the job.”

Trump has warned that if a ceasefire is not reached “shortly,” and if the strait is not reopened, the U.S. would broaden its offensive, including by attacking the Kharg Island oil export hub and possibly desalination plants.

Thousands of Marines and paratroopers have been ordered to the region in possible preparation for an assault in Kharg, though to reach the island by ship would mean transiting the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, which Iran has threatened to mine.

In an interview with pan-Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi acknowledged receiving direct messages from U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. He insisted, however, that there were no direct negotiations and said Iran has no faith that talks with the U.S. could yield any results, saying “the trust level is at zero.”

He warned against any attempt to launch a ground offensive, saying “we are waiting for them.”

“We know very well how to defend ourselves,” Araghchi said.

Early Wednesday a tanker off the coast of Qatar was hit with a projectile, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. The crew was reportedly unharmed. A fully-loaded Kuwaiti oil tanker came under attack off Dubai the day before, one of more than 20 ships attacked by Iran during the war.

Bahrain sounded two alerts for incoming missiles, and said an Iranian attack had caused a fire at a business facility.

In Kuwait, the state-run KUNA news agency said a drone had hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a “large fire” that crews were working to control.

Two drones were also intercepted in Saudi Arabia, which has come under repeated Iranian attack, and air raid sirens sounded in Israel though there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

In Iran, Israel said it had hit a plant producing fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, to allegedly be used in a chemical weapons program. Iran acknowledged the strike on Tofigh Daru factory, but insisted it only supplied “hospital drugs” used for medical purposes.

The strike happened Tuesday, both the Israelis and the Iranians said.

Hospitals extensively use fentanyl to treat severe pain. But a small amount of the drug can be fatal.

Both Israel and the United States have alleged in recent years that Iran was experimenting with fentanyl in munitions.

In Beirut, at least five people were killed in an Israeli strike on a Beirut neighborhood. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said another 21 people were wounded.

Israel invaded southern Lebanon after the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group began launching missiles into northern Israel days after the outbreak of the wider war. Many Lebanese fear another prolonged military occupation.

More than 1,200 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 1 million displaced, according to authorities. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there.

In Iran, authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel.

Since the Iran war began, 13 U.S. service members have been killed and 348 wounded, six seriously, according to U.S. Central Command.

More than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank.

Rising reported from Bangkok. AP writer Giovanna Dell’Orto in Miami, Florida contributed to this report.

Firefighters and rescue workers work at the site of Israeli airstrikes, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A firefighter extinguishes a car at the site of Israeli airstrikes, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Israel's rescue teams and residents take shelter as sirens sounds next to a site struck by an Iranian missile in Bnei Brak, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

A police vehicle is seen through a shattered windshield at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Two men ride scooters past charred debris at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)