If everyone’s attention is focused on the race for the drivers’ championship title, the Reds are here to reassure the fans great feedback let the two Ferraris tag you on the blazing fast Las Vegas city track. Charles Leclerc, after taking best time in the first free practice session, he was stopped due to a gearbox problem when he was fighting with Lando Norris and Bolognese racer Kimi Antonelli at the end of FP2. Evening more complicated namely Lewis Hamilton, who despite showing good performance, had difficulty recording clean laps and had to settle for tenth position in the second session.
After complaining about grip problems for a long time, Norris managed to end FP2 with a lead best time of the day while his rival Piastri was bitter, considering the red flag at the end of the race prevented him from completing a single lap on the soft tyre. The reason for the suspension of free practice is unique: it is what happened to Ferrari driver Sainz in 2023, once again famous manhole causes problems, forcing the session to terminate. The car will return to the track at 5 Italian time on Saturday for official qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Fp1, Leclerc fastest of all
Formula 1’s desire to hold the first free practice of the Las Vegas weekend on American night forced motoring fans to do so sleepless night but the decision provides little consolation for Reds fans. Despite the layout of the gambling capital full of dustas soon as the single seater started operating, the times went downhill. Ahead of the trip to Nevada, McLaren’s family filed a complaint about this lack of grip on the track and the first free practice session proved the Woking team’s fears. Charles Leclerc didn’t have this problem at all, setting the fastest time of the session 16 cent profit to Alex Albon’s surprise. Behind the Williams driver was a reborn Yuki Tsunoda, who, in a more unique than rare case, managed to get ahead of teammate Max Verstappen. Two o’clock session Pawpaw is complicated from the first minute to the last minute with the championship leader hitting the wall, damaging the flat surface and then being forced to take the exit at turn 12 twice while trying to set a fast time.
In the end, the British McLaren driver managed to do a clean lap but was closed almost half a second gap from Leclerc: things were even worse for Oscar Piastri, only eighth, almost 7 tenths behind the Ferrari driver. The cold wave that hit the United States has given it a rather harsh climate and a cold streak, a only 19 degrees: certainly not a simple condition that explains the many changes at the top of the standings. The two Red Bulls that came out with the medium demonstrated a good feeling with the track, with Charles Leclerc and George Russell competing against Verstappen for provisional pole. Lewis Hamilton took longer to get going, before a rim problem from the back left that forced the former world champion to stop unexpectedly. While the Monegasque racer continued to lower his time, the British rider had to stop several fast laps, slide backwards in ranking. However, his final time record of eleventh was not significant, considering that Hamilton was unable to complete a clean lap in the final stage of free practice. A session to forget for McLaren, with Norris was sixth and Piastri eighth.
FP2, Norris beat Kimi and Charles
As the night went on, someone also arrived light rain making the asphalt even more complicated: this explains why no one came out of the pits in the early stages of FP2. A few minutes later, Gasly and Russell tested the track conditions by installing soft tires while the McLaren team preferred to continue working on the set-up in the pits. Hamilton scored third place but when all the top riders took to the track, the situation changed drastically within a few minutes. Russell, Verstappen and Antonelli followed each other into the lead but we were still chasing a few seconds slower compared to what Leclerc scored in the first free practice session. Hamilton set the perfect time, capitalizing on a three-car trail on the Strip but taking a moment to brake, risk hitting Hulkenbergwho were forced to move to avoid the worst. The Ferrari driver flew into first place but was soon overtaken by Russell’s Mercedes, which was almost three tenths faster. After hiding for most of the session, the two McLaren drivers recorded the two fastest laps a few seconds apart, jumping to first and second place but Russell soon responded, reclaiming pole with a fine time of 1:34:430. Instead of focusing on the race simulation, the drivers continued to look for the fastest lap, with Norris shaving half a second off Russell’s time, followed by Verstappen and Hamilton. It took Leclerc a few minutes to find the feeling on the track, but in the end he did spend a pleasant timefirst down under the wall 1:34.
Norris was second but pushing like crazy and risk ending up on the wall braking after Strip. After a great time by Lawson, who moved up to second, almost everyone put on the soft: complicated moment for Leclerc, who over-braked and stopped his Ferrari completely, damaging the soft tire set. Kimi Antonelli enjoyed temporary pole for a few seconds, only overtaken by Norris by 29 thousand seconds, but, right at his best, here the red flag is flying. It took a few minutes to understand why, considering that neither car had been in an accident: the fault was with the car cover dI’m a manhole before turn 17 which will increase, creating unacceptable danger for drivers. The investigation took several minutes but, in the end, it was decided to restart to allow for at least one more attempt. Meanwhile Leclerc gave the signal serious gearbox problems and taking cover behind barriers, free practice was halted again to allow for track maintenance.
In the end the best time went to Norris, ahead of Antonelli and Leclerc: several drivers, including Hamilton and Piastri, had no chance of a clean lap on the soft tyre, which explains how they ended up in that position. 10to and 14to position.
