Formula 1: Lando Norris takes pole position at the Las Vegas GP

(AFP) Britain's Lando Norris (McLaren), leader of the Formula 1 World Championship, secured first place on the grid for the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix on Friday in a thrilling rain-soaked qualifying.

Winner of the last two races, Norris will be in position to deliver an almost definitive blow on Saturday in the gambling capital, with just three races remaining. 

The Briton best adapted to the extremely slippery conditions caused by the early rain to snatch pole at the last gasp from Max Verstappen (Red Bull) by 0.323 seconds.

"That was stressful as hell," Norris admitted after surged into first place on his final attempt.

"I felt the first few sectors were good, but it's very slippery out there. As soon as you touch the curb a little bit, as I did, the car gets out of control and you get dangerously close to the wall," he added.

"Not the most pleasant conditions. But I'm happy it stopped raining and we were able to have a good qualifying," he said.

Although he is usually comfortable underwater, Verstappen acknowledged that the impact of the rain on the asphalt of Casino Avenue was too challenging.

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

The defending champion is one of two drivers who can still prevent Norris from winning it all this season. 

Australian Oscar Piastri, the other contender, saw his McLaren teammate take 1.027 seconds off him in the qualy and will have to come back from fifth.

"There were some things at the start of the lap that didn't go well from an operational standpoint," Piastri acknowledged. "I had to deal with some things that didn't go the way I wanted."

Hamilton disaster

Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Williams) slipped past the favorites to settle into third place at the start for Saturday's Grand Prix, which gets underway at 8 p.m. local time (4 a.m. GMT Sunday).

For Norris, who is 24 points ahead of Piastri and 49 points ahead of Mad Max, it was his third consecutive pole position, after his victories in Mexico and Brazil, where he took the lead from Piastri.

He now has a golden opportunity to travel to the final two rounds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi with everything in his favor to end Verstappen's four-year reign.

Argentinean Franco Colapinto got into the second part of qualifying, but a mistake made him skid and finish last in the sector.

The young Alpine driver will start from 15th place, while Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) will start from 18th.

Britain's Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), a seven-time world champion, had one of the worst qualifying sessions of his career, finishing 20th and last.