George Russell won the wet-dry final practice ahead of Max Verstappen during the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were slowest, in 19th and 20th, after technical problems prevented them from running when the track was at its driest late in the session.
The track started wet from rain several hours earlier in the late afternoon, but the still conditions and cold 55 degree F conditions left the already slippery public roads recalcitrantly damp. Drivers were reluctant to take to the track, and when they did, they stuck to the intermediate tire. It was the best compound for the conditions, but long sections of the track, including much of the back straight along the Strip, were dry enough that the tire wore out quickly.
It wasn’t until 30 minutes into the session that everyone could try out slicks, with Lando Norris donning a set of soft tires midway through the session – earlier than the title leader would have liked, but team radar suggested the rain could return within 10 minutes, meaning it would be then or never to get at least a pair of slicks ahead of qualifying.
The Briton was initially miles off the pace, although there were signs of improvement on his second flying lap after pumping some heat into the rubber before sailing off the road in the rain. Ironically, just as his run was coming to an end, the track seemed to reach the transition point. A group of drivers, also motivated by the approaching rain, entered the track on slicks and suddenly started to find time.
Lewis Hamilton would have been the first driver to improve, but at the end of the straight he was stopped by a group of slow-moving cars, forcing him off the track in a terrifying near miss. Teammate Charles Leclerc topped the timesheet instead, but that wouldn’t last long as more drivers took to the track on soft tires and everyone found time.
With forecast rain passing the track, the drivers switched to fresh soft tires for a final stint, all with enough fuel to get maximum heat into the tires on the cool surface.
At the checkered flag it was Russell, the last driver to cross the line, who took first place with a fastest time of 1m34.054s. Verstappen would cross the line just after Russell and looked confident of moving him into first place, but the Dutchman was blocked by slow-moving drivers who refused to leave the narrow dry line, ruining the lap. He finished 0.227 seconds off the pace.
Despite Norris being the bravest by being the first to switch to slicks, McLaren was never among the leaders on the soft tire at any time. Both Norris and Piastri seemed to need more than two laps to get the slick rubber up to temperature and were hovering in the middle of the field with ten minutes to go as most drivers pitted for a final set of soft tyres. However, Norris was held in the pit lane with a problem that appeared to be a battery discharge. Piastri pitted shortly afterwards, but was informed that a telemetry problem would prevent him from rejoining the session.
Alex Albon instead completed the top three for Williams, running 0.821 seconds slower than Russell.
The field spread was significant given the rapidly changing conditions. Isack Hadjar followed in fourth place, but was 1.1 seconds behind. He was still ahead of Hamilton, who finished sixth ahead of Kimi Antonelli in the second Mercedes. Liam Lawson finished seventh ahead of Aston Martin teammates Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, while Pierre Gasly completed the top 10 for Alpine.
Oliver Bearman finished 11th and led Carlos Sainz, Gabriel Bortoleto, Esteban Ocon, Charles Leclerc, Franco Colapinto, Nico Hulkenberg and Yuki Tsunoda to 18th in an order heavily determined by what time a driver completed his lap and how much traffic he encountered in the final minutes on the busy circuit.
“It’s impressive. It really doesn’t take much rain to mess things up,” Bearman thought.
RESULTS
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