Mercedes to the fore in opening Las Vegas practice

Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets ahead of Mercedes teammate George Russell in the opening practice session for this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.

A slippery and dusty surface, likened to like driving in the wet by Liam Lawson, greeted competitors for Practice 1 on the street course.

Hamilton’s 1:35.001 flyer, set late in the session a a rapidly evolving track, was fourth-tenths to the good of his teammate’s best effort, but still over two seconds down on Max Verstappen’s pole setting time from 2023, given the difficult track conditions.

The third fastest time went to McLaren’s Lando Norris, who needs to outscore Verstappen by three points to prevent the three-time world champion from winning his fourth title in Las Vegas.

Charles Leclerc, running with Ferrari’s upgraded front wing and floor, split the pair, going 0.031 seconds faster the the Dutchman, and two-tenths quicker than teammate Carlos Sainz, who was sixth.

Aston Martin faced battled issues on the cars of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, but the latter recovered to go seventh quickest, ahead of Oscar Piastri, Pierre Gasly, and Sergio Perez, who completed the top ten.

Lawson finished the session in 20th, 3.729 seconds off Hamilton’s benchmark, cutting his first 28 laps of the street circuit and ending just over one-tenth behind RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda.

The one-hour session ran uninterupted, and the track’s evolution promises a much faster FP2, which gets underway at 7.00 pm NZST.

Las Vegas Grand Prix FP1 Results

Header Image: Mercedes AMG