Mercedes’ George Russell set the fastest time in final practice at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, ahead of the Red Bull of Max Verstappen.
Title rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished bottom of the standings, however, on a damp Las Vegas track that dried as the session went on.
Editor’s Picks
2 Related
After the session began with drivers on intermediate tyres following earlier rain, lap times improved rapidly in a frenetic closing stretch. By the end, Russell beat out Verstappen by 0.227 seconds.
Norris and Piastri, though, were both called into the pits for the closing minutes, meaning they failed to take advantage of the quickening track.
Norris, who topped the timesheets in FP2 on Thursday, leads his teammate by 24 points heading into Saturday’s Las Vegas race, with Verstappen 49 points back.
Qualifying gets underway at 8 p.m. local time.
George Russell set the quickest time in final practice ahead of qualifying at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Bryn Lennon – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
Williams driver Alex Albon was a surprise third fastest in final practice but 0.821 seconds off the pace of Russell.
Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar was fourth fastest ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari and Russell’s Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli.
There was no repeat in Friday’s session of the loose manhole cover that saw two red flags in the second practice session on Thursday night. The FIA earlier said they had conducted repairs overnight and welded the manhole cover in place.
