George Russell admitted that he was not expecting to finish quickest in qualifying, with Mercedes preparing to be fast in Qatar but not Las Vegas.

“It is incredible to be back on pole,” he said. “We have been so quick all weekend

“I knew coming into that last Q3 lap, that would be the one that counts, it doesn’t matter what happened before then.

“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.

“We have to do some deep diving to understand why we have been so quick this weekend because it was a real surprise.”