George Russell has led the final practice session of the Las Vegas Grand Prix in what has been a strong showing for Mercedes this weekend so far.
It was yet another cold-ish practice around the Las Vegas Strip. Track temps were at 17 degrees Celsius with the air feeling like 15, and this was the last opportunity drivers and teams had to test their machineries and perform at a higher level before giving it all in qualifying.
Max Verstappen complained several times on the radio that his Red Bull was “undriveable”. Halfway through the session, his engineer asked him to complete a couple of laps to gather data but the reigning World Champion radioed that he was “going to crash” with his setup, and then boxed. At the time, he wasn’t able to set a flying lap, being 5.4 seconds off the top, with teammate Sergio Perez just ahead of him by less than half a second.
Things improved later on, however, as Verstappen went on to set the fastest lap of the session with eight minutes to go – a 1:34.137s with the Soft tire compound. “Grip felt miles better, much better,” he said through the radio.
The number 1 Red Bull did not keep the position, though. It was George Russell who took the top spot with a 1:33.570s, with Oscar Piastri in second by 0.215s, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz third by 0.348s and Lando Norris in fourth by 0.438s to the lead.
The red flags were out with six minutes to go, as Lance Stroll stopped at the side of the track following a loss of power.
Lewis Hamilton had a much different time to his teammate, although the red flag aborted a faster lap from the 7-time World Champion. He was 6th.
The duo of Alexander Albon and Franco Colapinto placed the 7th and 8th fastest times respectively, with Kevin Magnussen and Pierre Gasly completing the top 10.
Qualifying is next, stay with us.