Lewis Hamilton edges Lando Norris as Max Verstappen struggles in second Las Vegas practice
Lewis Hamilton stays on top of the F1 order to round out Friday practice fastest for Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton continued his strong start to the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend by setting the pace in second practice.
The seven-time world champion, who headed Mercedes teammate George Russell in FP1, this time was just 0.011 seconds faster than McLaren’s Lando Norris during a more competitive second session at the Strip circuit in Sin City.
Russell was third-fastest for another British 1-2-3 and was only 0.190s behind his Mercedes teammate, despite having one of his qualifying simulation runs on the soft tyres hampered by traffic.
The Ferrari pair of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc took fourth and fifth, ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who was eight tenths off the pace in sixth.
Kevin Magnussen was seventh ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Haas teammate Nico Hulkenberg, while Yuki Tsunoda completed the top-10 order for RB.
Max Verstappen, who can clinch his fourth world title in a row as long as he is not out-scored by Norris by more than two points this weekend, was only 17th.
The Dutchman was heard complaining about a lack of grip in the cool temperatures which failed to get above 13 degrees, and was one of several drivers who struggled to keep their car on track throughout the session.
The other Red Bull of Sergio Perez was 19th, ahead of only Alex Albon, whose session was ruined by a fuel system issue.
Albon completed just four laps and caused a red flag when he pulled his Williams over at the side of the track shortly after being sent out of the garage following the problem which left him garage-bound for most of FP2.
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