Lando Norris finished fastest in Free Practice 2 ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Drivers’ Championship leader heading the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, the latter suffering a late mechanical issue.
Norris, who heads into this weekend with a 24-point lead over McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri after taking back-to-back wins, posted a 1m 33.602s as two red flags for track maintenance caused disrupted running for many at the end of the session.
With a sprinkle of rain having lightly dampened the circuit between the day’s two one-hour sessions, teams were hesitant to send cars out initially, the clock reaching five minutes before for the first drivers started to appear.
Although drivers were on the slick compound of tyres, the cold temperatures and added moisture made conditions tricky, with Ollie Bearman reporting over the radio that the track was slippery and lap times were several seconds adrift from the outright pace in FP1 to begin with.
Times soon began to tumble though, Lewis Hamilton posting a 1m 35.338s just after the 15-minute mark to go fastest despite a close call with Nico Hulkenberg’s Kick Sauber down the back straight into the braking zone of Turn 14.
After a quiet FP1 by McLaren’s 2025 standards, Norris and Piastri came to the fore for the first time in Las Vegas, both briefly jumping to the top of the times before George Russell claimed top spot with a 1m 34.430s on the medium Pirelli tyre – the best lap from the day’s running up to that point.
Norris became the first driver to dip below the 1m 34s barrier – posting a 1m 33.943s – before having a big lock-up and running deep at Turn 14, the Briton’s time also beaten by Leclerc’s 1m 33.763s before the halfway point of the session.
Focus soon switched towards Qualifying simulations on the soft tyre, with Kimi Antonelli and then Norris moving to the top of the times, the latter on a 1m 33.602s before the red flag was deployed with just over 20 minutes remaining.
After a track inspection, the session resumed with just over five minutes remaining, prompting a flurry of activity in the pit lane as drivers rushed to head out for some final flying laps.
But there was further late drama for Leclerc, who pulled off the track with a gearbox issue having been told not to shift over the radio by his engineer, before another red flag was deployed to bring the session to an end.
It left Norris fastest, 0.029s clear of Antonelli, with Leclerc third on the medium tyre, followed by Hulkenberg and the two Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar, all who managed to post laps on the soft tyre.
Russell, Alex Albon (Williams), Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) completed the top 10, with only Albon posting his lap on the soft compound.
Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Pierre Gasly (Alpine) and Carlos Sainz (Williams) headed Piastri, the McLaren driver 14th but unable to register a lap on the soft tyre because of the delays.
The order was completed by Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull), Franco Colapinto (Alpine), Bearman, Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), Esteban Ocon (Haas) and Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber).
