Las Vegas GP: Hamilton leads Mercedes 1-2 in trouble-free FP1
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell led the field in a chilly but trouble-free first practice in Las Vegas on Thursday evening, the pair remaining at the top of the timesheet for most of the session.
The Mercedes pair were comfortably ahead of their closest contender, McLaren’s Lando Norris who was 0.953s adrift from Hamilton’s best, while Charles Leclerc was Ferrari’s fastest runner in P4.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen clocked in sixth, unable to match the early pace of his front-running rivals on the soft compound tyre, but its early days still for the championship leader.
After last year’s manhole drama that thwarted the opening practice, drivers took to the Las Vegas Strip Circuit hoping for a trouble-free practice.
At the outset, grip was at a premium, with air temperature set at 14.4C and track temps at 16.2C, with both set to decrease as the night would grow older.
With tyre warm-up a challenge in the chilly conditions, caution was in order as traffic swelled, with Lewis Hamilton leading laying down the early benchmark. But the Britain’s effort was quickly outdone by George Russell.
As the Mercedes teammates traded places at the top of the timesheet, track evolution was predictably fast and furious, with the leaders shaving over three seconds off their best in the opening 15 minutes of the session.
Verstappen’s heavy lock-up and trip down the run-off corridor at the end of the Strip was a reminder that conditions were difficult.
Williams’ Franco Colapinto had the privilege of being shown the first black and white flag of the weekend after he failed to follow the race director's event notes and crossed the white line on pit entry.
As the incident-free session rolled on past its halfway mark, half the field took a pause to take stock of events. But there was no hiatus for Haas’ Kevin Magnussen as the Dane propelled himself up to third, just 0.343s behind Hamilton’s leading Mercedes.
Meanwhile, Leclerc bolted on a set of softs on his SF-24 and vaulted up to P1, outpacing Hamilton by 0.497s. But Sainz followed suit as he hammered in a 1m36.218s to put Ferrari 1 and 2.
But the Scuderia’s lead was short-lived as Norris – also on the softs – became the first driver to dip below 96 seconds, with Piastri placing fourth and sandwiching the Ferraris.
With ten minutes left on the clock, there was a surge of activity, foretelling a flurry of hot laps. Russell returned Mercedes to the top with a 1m35.619s.
But it was Hamilton’s turn to push on the softs, and push he did as the seven-time world champion pipped his teammate. But Russell was faster still. However, a final effort secured P1 for Hamilton who concluded the session with a 0.396s edge over Russell.
Norris and Leclerc completed the top four, just ahead of Verstappen who endured a seemingly subdued session, and Sainz.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez rounded off the top ten, with the usual mix of mid-fielders comprising the second half of the field.
However, the highlight of FP1 was the fact that the session ran uninterrupted, much to the satisfaction of the teams and to Formula 1’s new race director Rui Marques who enjoyed an orderly baptism of fire in his new role.
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