George Russell heads FP3 as both McLaren drivers hit trouble

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George Russell has topped a wet-to-dry third practice from Max Verstappen at the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, as both McLaren drivers hit trouble.

Russell’s late 1m34.054s lap on a drying track was marginally quicker than world champion Verstappen’s best time, although the changing conditions meant the session didn’t offer much reliable information ahead qualifying.

But McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris finished at the bottom of the timesheets after not setting flyers towards the end of the session when the track was at its best. Piastri’s McLaren car lost telemetry, forcing him to pit, while his team-mate appeared to suffer an electrical issue late on which also saw him lose telemetry.

Following the latest patch of morning showers, the third and final practice session started in damp conditions, a first for the Las Vegas Strip circuit.

Given rain is not expected to return for qualifying and the race, few drivers were initially keen on setting a vast number of laps on intermediates, with Piastri saying, “the tyre is starting to die already but it’d be very nervous on slicks.” An off for Alex Albon at Turn 5 further illustrated how sketchy the conditions were, with lap times nearly 10 seconds of dry times.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was leading the early intermediate runs with a 1m42.809s, ahead of Norris, Russell and Piastri, while a third of the grid didn’t bother to set a run to begin with.

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: James Sutton / Formula 1 / Formula Motorsport Ltd via Getty Images

As conditions had improved by the halfway point, it was championship leader Norris who broke the intermediate spell with a first run on soft tyres.

Norris’ race engineer urged him to take “zero risk”, but a worrying slide followed by an off-track cut at the Sphere suggested the 6.2km track was not quite ready for slicks yet, with the Briton soon pitting again.

But as conditions continued to improve, all runners switched to the soft tyre over the next few minutes.

While Hamilton barely avoided a collision with Liam Lawson in Turn 14, the braking zone at the end of the Strip, Yuki Tsunoda went top on softs for Red Bull, before being demoted by Charles Leclerc’s 1m41.867s.

Times took another tumble when Verstappen bolted on Pirelli’s red-walled tyres, improving by over two seconds to set a 1m39.156s. That was the start of a flurry of rapid improvements that saw Leclerc, Hamilton and the Dutchman all cycle through the lead as the benchmark gradually dropped down to the 1m34 range.

Verstappen looked set to top the session with his final tour inside the last five minutes, before Russell took over the lead with a 1m34.054s, a lap that would remain untouched over the final few minutes after Verstappen went wide on his final flyer.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

The Red Bull driver therefore remained second ahead of Albon, Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar and Hamilton, with the second Mercedes of Andrea Kimi Antonelli in sixth.

Behind seventh-placed Lawson, Aston Martin duo Lance Stroll and Alonso claimed eighth and ninth, with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly rounding out the top 10.