Sawt Falasteen - F1 championship leader Norris grabs 'stressful' Las Vegas pole

The British McLaren driver -- who has surged into a 24-point lead in the drivers championship after wins in Brazil and Mexico -- clocked a fastest time of one minute 47.934 seconds in slippery conditions.

Red Bull's reigning world champion Max Verstappen was second fastest in 1min 48.257sec with Williams' Carlos Sainz third.

Norris's title rival and McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri will start fifth after finishing more than a second off the pace.

In wet, treacherous conditions on the Sin City street circuit, the 26-year-old Norris produced a dazzling flying lap to snatch pole with three blistering sectors.

"Boy that was stressful, stressful as hell," a relieved Norris said after clinching pole.

"I felt like the first few sectors were good, but it's so slippery out there. As soon as you hit the curb a little bit like I did, you snap one way and then the other way and come close to hitting the wall," he added.

"So not the nicest of conditions. But I'm happy it stopped raining and we could get a good qualifying."

Norris, who had looked tentative in the final practice earlier Friday, when he finished bottom of the timesheets, said he had not been expecting rain during qualifying.

"I had a nap and was expecting it to be dry, and then woke up and saw it was raining and thought 'Oh crap'," he said. "It's difficult to know what to expect."

Australia's Piastri, whose title challenge has faltered in recent races, said: "There was a few things at the start of the lap that didn't go great from an operational point of view.

"I had to mess around with a few things that didn't quite go how I wanted."

Red Bull ace Verstappen said that while he was normally comfortable driving in the wet, the combination of the Vegas circuit's slick surface and the rain had made conditions doubly challenging.

"It's not fun, I can tell you that," the Dutchman said. "I like to drive in the wet -- this felt more like driving on ice. It took a long time to get the tires to work a little bit."

Z.Ramadan--SF-PST