The 2025 Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend got underway on Friday (NZST) with two disrupted. Still, revealing practice sessions, as drivers battled a dusty street surface, cool conditions, and even loose manhole covers across a dramatic opening day.
Practice 1:
Following the flooding that washed across parts of the circuit earlier in the week, drivers rolled out onto a low-grip, dusty track in FP1, conditions that quickly set the tone for the session.
Charles Leclerc set the first meaningful benchmark with a 1:41.328 on medium tyres, but the early laps belonged equally to the midfield, with both Williams and Racing Bulls enjoying brief spells near the top as the surface rapidly improved.
Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson were quickly up to speed in the Racing Bulls as they navigated the slippery track; the pair split by less than a tenth on their first runs.
Carlos Sainz then moved the target forward with a 1:41.164, before Leclerc slashed 1.6 seconds from his own time with a 1:39.733 as grip improved.
Hadjar briefly went fastest with an impressive 1:39.415, and again later with a 1:38.753, underlining how much the circuit was evolving. Yuki Tsunoda kept Red Bull in the mix, slotting into second at various stages as the top times changed almost every minute through the opening half.
As conditions stabilised, the heavy hitters showed their hand. Verstappen, who delayed his first run, immediately jumped to the top with a 1:36.493, six tenths clear of Tsunoda. However, the Ferraris quickly reeled him in as lap times dropped into the mid-1:35s.
Hamilton’s first soft-tyre push briefly put him on top before Leclerc restored Ferrari’s authority with a strong 1:35.281. George Russell split the Ferraris soon after, while Norris and Piastri hovered around the top six despite McLaren reporting braking issues on Vegas’ abrasive surface.
Norris also clipped the wall, prompting the team to conduct precautionary checks for damage.
Alex Albon delivered one of the standout laps of the session by going second fastest, within two tenths of Leclerc, on soft tyres as Williams continued to show strong one-lap form.
Further down, the Racing Bulls pair again ran closely matched, Lawson improving to P12 and later finishing just ahead of Hadjar before the Frenchman jumped back up to seventh with a late flyer.
Several drivers pushed beyond the limit in the closing minutes, with Lawson, Albon, Alonso and Bearman all visiting escape roads. Hamilton produced one of the more dramatic moments with a sideways save at Turn 12.
Leclerc ended FP1 on top with a 1:34.802, followed by Albon, Tsunoda, Verstappen and Sainz. Norris, Hadjar, Piastri, Russell and Antonelli completed the top ten.
Practice 2:
Drivers returned for FP2 with the track offering marginally more grip, though many of the challenges from the opening session remained, particularly in the heavy braking zones, where cool temperatures were affecting tyre performance.
Lawson started strongly, twice going second fastest in the early exchanges on mediums.
Verstappen then laid down a 1:36.029 straight out of the Red Bull garage, while Russell, Leclerc, Bearman and Tsunoda all cycled through the top-five positions during an active opening quarter-hour.
Kimi Antonelli briefly put Mercedes on top with a 1:35.738 before Hamilton bettered it by four tenths. Russell answered immediately with a 1:35.066, creating a temporary Mercedes 1-2.
The Racing Bulls remained competitive, with Hadjar going fourth and Lawson fifth, again split by a tenth, as both drivers held positions ahead of Verstappen, Tsunoda and the Ferraris at that stage.
McLaren then delivered its most convincing pace of the day. Norris and Piastri vaulted to the top, Norris producing a 1:34.713 and Piastri only 0.027s behind.
The pair held those positions comfortably until Norris improved again to a 1:33.943. Verstappen closed to within two tenths, but the session continued to ebb and flow.
Leclerc eventually restored Ferrari’s presence with a 1:33.763, once more demonstrating the kind of short-run speed he had shown earlier in FP1.
The session was marked by repeated trips through escape roads as grip remained unpredictable, particularly under braking into Turns 8, 9, 14 and the chicanes. Lawson, Hadjar, Albon, Sainz and Bearman were among those forced to reset after overshooting.
When the soft-tyre runs began, Lawson again delivered the standout lap. On his first attempt, he jumped from P12 to P2, just a little over a tenth shy of Leclerc.
A big lock-up hampered Hadjar’s first run, but he recovered on his second attempt to go P2, only 0.008s ahead of Lawson in a close intra-team fight.
The momentum was halted with 20 minutes to go when the session was red-flagged for a loose manhole cover. Running eventually resumed with five minutes left, but Leclerc then suffered a gearbox failure and pulled off at Turn 5 with his Ferrari stuck in gear.
A second manhole cover incident ended the session prematurely with two minutes left on the clock.
Norris retained his place at the top of FP2, with Antonelli completing a strong day in second and Leclerc third despite his gearbox issues. Hulkenberg, Hadjar, Lawson, Russell, Albon, Verstappen and Hamilton rounded out the top ten.
Practice 3 begins tomorrow at 1:30pm (NZST) ahead of qualifying at 5pm. The Grand Prix is set to go green at 5pm Sunday afternoon, with Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull all showing competitive early pace, and the Racing Bulls pairing of Lawson and Hadjar firmly in the mix on both long and short-run form.
Header Image: Clive Rose/Getty Images via Red Bull Content Pool
