Formula 1 returns for its final leg of the season under the bright lights of Sin City for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton led a Mercedes one-two in FP1 as track evolution saw times tumble throughout the session despite an evident lack of grip.
With the chance to wrap up a fourth consecutive drivers’ title this weekend, Max Verstappen was fifth, two places behind rival Lando Norris. FP2 begins at 6am GMT.
By:
Haydn Cobb
With that, we’ll call time on our live coverage of the Las Vegas GP practice action. Thank you for joining us today and we’ll be back bright and early (well, in the dark but still early) for final practice that starts at 2:30am GMT. Until then, go well!
Here’s the full report on Hamilton topping FP2 from Norris in Las Vegas.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15
So, Red Bull down in 17th and 19th but with a great big asterisk next to that to state that neither Verstappen or Perez did a soft tyre quali run due to the red flag.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Practice starts are the final order of the day and all the drivers need to complete multiple burnouts to get temperatures up.
The chequered flag is out which will give the headline time to Hamilton ahead of Norris, Russell and Sainz.
F1’s data crunchers have pointed to Ferrari’s superior race pace during these runs on the mediums, coming out on top with Sainz managing a 1m37.8s average across 19 laps and Leclerc just one-tenth per lap slower over 17 laps. Then comes Russell a further two-tenths back but only over 16 laps.
Colapinto is the latest locker-upper and takes to the Turn 14 run-off, but no harm done as he rejoins safely.
Into the final five minutes and everyone, bar Albon of course, is completing race sims to the end of the session. So unless there is any glory runs Hamilton will top both FP1 and FP2 today.
Why is there a Sauber C24 on track?
Yuki Tsunoda, RB F1 Team VCARB 01, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
Norris and Colapinto go side-by-side down the back straight and the McLaren driver locks up and goes into the run-off. Odd moment given they weren’t really racing each other into the corner, but no major harm done beyond Norris scuffing up his medium tyres.
Magnussen was the only driver to opt for a late soft tyre run after the red flag, as he goes seventh for Haas to put almost two-tenths and Piastri between himself and team-mate Hulkenberg on the timesheet.
Verstappen is back out on the track but on the medium tyres so he isn’t targeting a qualifying simulation. He has some flow-vis paint on the end of his diffuser and bottom of the rear wing too, which is unusual to see at this point of a race weekend.
That’s the case, as FP2 resumes with 19 minutes to go. The stoppage did rather dampen the qualifying simulations for a number of drivers, including Verstappen, Perez and Piastri.
That is Albon’s session over as his car is pulled behind the barriers so that should be a fairly swift resumption of FP2. Moments before that Hamilton nipped into top spot with a 1m33.825s.
Ah, maybe the fuel issue isn’t so fixed for Albon as he has stopped at the side of the track on his out-lap.
Williams has fixed Albon’s fuel system issue and he is back in action having lost around 20 minutes of track time.
Norris must have heard us, as he goes fastest with a 1m33.836s – almost two-tenths up on Russell’s earlier effort. How much of that is outright pace and how much is track evolution? Probably a bit of both.
Sainz also uses two warm-up laps and goes second quickest and within one-tenth of Russell. Leclerc bailed out of his lap so didn’t improve and we are still due to see representative laps from both McLarens and Red Bulls.
Hamilton’s opening soft tyre effort puts him 0.214s off Russell in second place. Leclerc is on the softs but appears to have gone for two preparation laps.
Russell wrestles back top spot with the soft tyres, posting a 1m34.015s, putting him four-tenths faster than Leclerc who is yet to post a soft tyre lap.
Albon is stood at the back of the Williams garage with his helmet off. The mechanics are busy at work on the right-rear of his car.
Spotted: Soft tyres. Stroll, Colapinto and Alonso have all headed out on the C5 tyre compound.
A Ferrari surge sees Leclerc go top by nearly two-tenths of a second, while Sainz slots into third. I don’t think we’ve seen Red Bull at full beans yet as Verstappen improves but is 1.3s off the pace in seventh.
Verstappen runs on at the end of the Strip but takes to the plentiful run-off. It is another lock-up, with brake and tyre temperatures proving tricky to get in the right window.
Alonso is asking for a set-up change as he is struggling with “more bouncing”. It has been a wretched run of races for Aston Martin, having failed to score any points over the last three rounds.
It is early days and has been a trend for Mercedes this season, but so far its pace is encouraging, as Russell pumps in a 1m34.979s to go quickest. But with every lap time improvement, it appears another struggles with lock ups, as Leclerc, Magnussen and Hamilton all get away with minor individual incidents.
FP1 pacesetter Hamilton goes fastest with a 1m35.805s, but the main theme remains most drivers struggling for premium grip from the track, as Leclerc and Verstappen both suffer slippery moments.
“I have a lot of air coming through this helmet, so please close up the other one so that we have it for the next run,” Perez says over team radio. Russell also complained of a chilly wind coming into his helmet a few moments ago.
Norris suffers a minor lock-up into Turn 1 so has to run wide and forget about that lap, while Magnussen sets the early pace with a 1m37.711s. All drivers are on medium tyres so we’re still off the outright pace set on the softs in FP1.
It is no massive surprise about the high amount of early FP2 running given this is the exact time both qualifying and the race itself will start in the next two days. Perfect conditions to simulate what is to come.
Just like that, only Perez, Tsunoda, Albon and Lawson remain in the pits. So plenty of lappery coming up.
The Alpine pair – pretty in pink for Vegas – nip out from the pitlane and are joined by both Saubers, Colapinto in the Williams and Magnussen in the Haas.
FP2 is go! No early takers, mind.
Ever get the feeling someone is watching you?
Nico Hulkenberg, Haas VF-24
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
As it is approaching 10pm local time in Vegas, the temperature is dipping, with the air temp just below 11C and track temp at 13C. That’s around 5C cooler than FP1. Chilly.
In truth, it was a session that passed with very little in the way of talking points or controversy, so if you were catching your 40 winks don’t kick yourself too much. Even new race director Rui Marques had a straightforward time of it.
With that, we’ll call time on our live coverage of the Las Vegas GP practice action. Thank you for joining us today and we’ll be back bright and early (well, in the dark but still early) for final practice that starts at 2:30am GMT. Until then, go well!
Here’s the full report on Hamilton topping FP2 from Norris in Las Vegas.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15
So, Red Bull down in 17th and 19th but with a great big asterisk next to that to state that neither Verstappen or Perez did a soft tyre quali run due to the red flag.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Practice starts are the final order of the day and all the drivers need to complete multiple burnouts to get temperatures up.
The chequered flag is out which will give the headline time to Hamilton ahead of Norris, Russell and Sainz.
F1’s data crunchers have pointed to Ferrari’s superior race pace during these runs on the mediums, coming out on top with Sainz managing a 1m37.8s average across 19 laps and Leclerc just one-tenth per lap slower over 17 laps. Then comes Russell a further two-tenths back but only over 16 laps.
Colapinto is the latest locker-upper and takes to the Turn 14 run-off, but no harm done as he rejoins safely.
Into the final five minutes and everyone, bar Albon of course, is completing race sims to the end of the session. So unless there is any glory runs Hamilton will top both FP1 and FP2 today.
Why is there a Sauber C24 on track?
Yuki Tsunoda, RB F1 Team VCARB 01, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
Norris and Colapinto go side-by-side down the back straight and the McLaren driver locks up and goes into the run-off. Odd moment given they weren’t really racing each other into the corner, but no major harm done beyond Norris scuffing up his medium tyres.
Magnussen was the only driver to opt for a late soft tyre run after the red flag, as he goes seventh for Haas to put almost two-tenths and Piastri between himself and team-mate Hulkenberg on the timesheet.
Verstappen is back out on the track but on the medium tyres so he isn’t targeting a qualifying simulation. He has some flow-vis paint on the end of his diffuser and bottom of the rear wing too, which is unusual to see at this point of a race weekend.
That’s the case, as FP2 resumes with 19 minutes to go. The stoppage did rather dampen the qualifying simulations for a number of drivers, including Verstappen, Perez and Piastri.
That is Albon’s session over as his car is pulled behind the barriers so that should be a fairly swift resumption of FP2. Moments before that Hamilton nipped into top spot with a 1m33.825s.
Ah, maybe the fuel issue isn’t so fixed for Albon as he has stopped at the side of the track on his out-lap.
Williams has fixed Albon’s fuel system issue and he is back in action having lost around 20 minutes of track time.
Norris must have heard us, as he goes fastest with a 1m33.836s – almost two-tenths up on Russell’s earlier effort. How much of that is outright pace and how much is track evolution? Probably a bit of both.
Sainz also uses two warm-up laps and goes second quickest and within one-tenth of Russell. Leclerc bailed out of his lap so didn’t improve and we are still due to see representative laps from both McLarens and Red Bulls.
Hamilton’s opening soft tyre effort puts him 0.214s off Russell in second place. Leclerc is on the softs but appears to have gone for two preparation laps.
Russell wrestles back top spot with the soft tyres, posting a 1m34.015s, putting him four-tenths faster than Leclerc who is yet to post a soft tyre lap.
A quiet session on track so far but in Vegas there is plenty to see when you turn your eyes away from the circuit.
Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Albon is stood at the back of the Williams garage with his helmet off. The mechanics are busy at work on the right-rear of his car.
Spotted: Soft tyres. Stroll, Colapinto and Alonso have all headed out on the C5 tyre compound.
A Ferrari surge sees Leclerc go top by nearly two-tenths of a second, while Sainz slots into third. I don’t think we’ve seen Red Bull at full beans yet as Verstappen improves but is 1.3s off the pace in seventh.
Safe to say the grandstand down the start/finish straight isn’t exactly packed to the rafters for FP2. It’s down to just 10 degrees now too.
Verstappen runs on at the end of the Strip but takes to the plentiful run-off. It is another lock-up, with brake and tyre temperatures proving tricky to get in the right window.
Alonso is asking for a set-up change as he is struggling with “more bouncing”. It has been a wretched run of races for Aston Martin, having failed to score any points over the last three rounds.
It is early days and has been a trend for Mercedes this season, but so far its pace is encouraging, as Russell pumps in a 1m34.979s to go quickest. But with every lap time improvement, it appears another struggles with lock ups, as Leclerc, Magnussen and Hamilton all get away with minor individual incidents.
FP1 pacesetter Hamilton goes fastest with a 1m35.805s, but the main theme remains most drivers struggling for premium grip from the track, as Leclerc and Verstappen both suffer slippery moments.
“I have a lot of air coming through this helmet, so please close up the other one so that we have it for the next run,” Perez says over team radio. Russell also complained of a chilly wind coming into his helmet a few moments ago.
Norris suffers a minor lock-up into Turn 1 so has to run wide and forget about that lap, while Magnussen sets the early pace with a 1m37.711s. All drivers are on medium tyres so we’re still off the outright pace set on the softs in FP1.
It is no massive surprise about the high amount of early FP2 running given this is the exact time both qualifying and the race itself will start in the next two days. Perfect conditions to simulate what is to come.
Just like that, only Perez, Tsunoda, Albon and Lawson remain in the pits. So plenty of lappery coming up.
The Alpine pair – pretty in pink for Vegas – nip out from the pitlane and are joined by both Saubers, Colapinto in the Williams and Magnussen in the Haas.
FP2 is go! No early takers, mind.
Ever get the feeling someone is watching you?
Nico Hulkenberg, Haas VF-24
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
As it is approaching 10pm local time in Vegas, the temperature is dipping, with the air temp just below 11C and track temp at 13C. That’s around 5C cooler than FP1. Chilly.
In truth, it was a session that passed with very little in the way of talking points or controversy, so if you were catching your 40 winks don’t kick yourself too much. Even new race director Rui Marques had a straightforward time of it.
