Oscar Piastri finished only fifth in Las Vegas qualifying, and the key reason lies in a crucial episode involving Charles Leclerc on the final lap. The McLaren driver was unable to complete his last flying lap in Q3. During the live broadcast, it initially looked as if Oscar Piastri had been the one to cause the yellow flag at the end of the Las Vegas qualifying session. However, the reality was different, and Charles Leclerc was directly involved. The situation also left room for a brief outburst from Isack Hadjar, who paid a high price for the Monegasque driver’s mistake.
Charles Leclerc went off the track at Turn 12, just before entering the long straight on the Strip. This incident, which occurred in the final seconds of the session, triggered a yellow flag that played a major role in the fight for pole and in the wider title battle. Oscar Piastri was the first to be penalized by the situation, and immediately afterward the Racing Bulls driver behind him was affected as well.
Oscar did not make a mistake
A curious moment emerged on Lando Norris’s team radio when, after receiving confirmation of his pole position, he asked whether his teammate had managed to complete his lap. Lando’s race engineer confirmed that Oscar had encountered a yellow flag and was forced to lift, although the exact sequence of events was not immediately clear. A replay later showed Hadjar and Piastri running almost side by side through Turn 12, with the McLaren driver going wide to avoid contact. At first, many thought Oscar Piastri himself had been the cause of the yellow flag.
Oscar Piastri later clarified the entire situation, explaining what had happened in the final moments of Las Vegas qualifying. “Where I saw the yellow flag [caused by Leclerc], there’s a blind corner. I don’t know if there is a stopped car somewhere and suddenly I might have to react. I think I couldn’t really do much — if I had kept pushing, I would have taken a pretty big risk,” he told the media, as reported by TheRace.
Isack Hadjar also caught out
The French Racing Bulls driver felt he could have achieved an excellent result if not for the late incident. “We got tricked by Charles at the end. He went off, the yellow came out, and that’s it,” Isack Hadjar told Formula 1’s cameras.
“I was improving, we were aiming for a top four. Unfortunately, a yellow flag is a yellow flag. It’s frustrating that we had to slow down because of it. Obviously, I’m a bit disappointed — I would have preferred to start slightly further ahead, but it’s still a good position,” he concluded. Tomorrow, he will start from eighth place, and with Liam Lawson in sixth, the team has a real chance to bring home a strong points haul.
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