Lewis Hamilton placed the fastest time around the Las Vegas Strip in the first practice session of the last American GP of the season, with teammate George Russell in close second.
It was a cold night in Las Vegas with an air temperature of just 14 degrees Celsius, far from what the drivers experienced in Brazil as South America nears the summer. The track temp was just 16 degrees, making it harder to warm up the tires.
The session was topped by Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton with a time of 1:35.001. The British driver was closely followed by teammate George Russell, as he placed the second-fastest lap around the Strip by a gap of 0.396s. McLaren’s Lando Norris was third by 0.953s, although unlike the top 2, he did it with the Mediums.
Norris’s teammate, Oscar Piastri, placed the 8th fastest time. The Australian had a strange problem midway through the session, as he reported on his radio that he wasn’t able to turn his car off in the pit lane. He was pushed into the box by his mechanics with the engine on.
The Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz placed 4th and 6th respectively, in what is a relatively good performance by the Ferraris around the Strip, although this is only practice. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was sandwiched between them with a 1:36.038s in the Softs.
The RB team was dead-last in FP1, with rookie Liam Lawson in P20 with a laptime almost 4 seconds slower to the leader. His teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, in P19, placed a 1:38.574.
Williams had mixed results with Alexander Albon in P13 by a ap of 1.947s to the top, but his rookie teammate Franco Colapinto achieved only 17th ahead of Guanyu Zhou and behind Valtteri Bottas.
The same mixed results were seen at Haas, were Magnussen just missed the top ten by placing the 11th fastest lap, a 1:36.811. Meanwhile, Nico Hulkenberg was 15th with a 1:37.200.
Practice 2 is next. Stay with us.