NORRIS LEADS FP2 AS SESSION GETS INTERRUPTED BY DRAIN COVER
Lando Norris was the fastest driver in Free Practice 2 for the Las Vegas Grand Prix. The championship leader finished ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who had a mechanical problem near the end.
Norris arrives this weekend with a 24-point lead over his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, thanks to two wins in a row. His best lap was a 1:33.602. The session was messy for many teams because two red flags were needed for track repairs.
A light bit of rain fell between FP1 and FP2, so the track was slightly wet at the start. Teams waited a few minutes before sending drivers out. Conditions were cold and slippery, and Ollie Bearman said on the radio that the track had very little grip. Early lap times were much slower than FP1.
As the track dried, times improved. Lewis Hamilton briefly went fastest with a 1:35.338, even after a close call with Nico Hulkenberg at Turn 14. Then the McLarens started to show their speed. Norris and Piastri each went to the top before George Russell took over with a 1:34.430 on medium tyres.
Norris then became the first to break into the 1:33s, but he locked up heavily at Turn 14. Leclerc soon beat Norris’ time with a 1:33.763.
Teams switched to soft tyres for qualifying-style runs. Antonelli moved to the top, then Norris reclaimed first place with a 1:33.602. A red flag stopped the session with a bit more than 20 minutes left due to a drain cover once again, like in 2023.
After a track check, the session restarted with just over five minutes remaining. Drivers rushed out to try one more fast lap. Leclerc was not so lucky: he was told not to shift gears because of a problem, then stopped his car on track, causing another red flag that ended the session early.
Norris stayed first, only 0.029 seconds ahead of Antonelli. Leclerc was third on medium tyres. Hulkenberg was fourth, followed by Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar in the Racing Bulls.
Russell, Albon, Verstappen, and Hamilton completed the top 10. Albon was the only one in that group who set his time on soft tyres.
Behind them came Stroll, Gasly, and Sainz. Piastri ended up 14th because he never got a chance to run the soft tyre in the final minutes. The rest of the order was Tsunoda, Colapinto, Bearman, Alonso, Ocon, and Bortoleto.
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