The third free practice for the 2024 Formula 1 Grand Prix in Las Vegas took place. During the 60-minute practice session, George Russell was the fastest with the Mercedes.
It was cold by F1 standards during the last free practice organized early Saturday morning according to Hungarian time, but early Friday evening according to Vegas time. It wasn’t the 15-degree Celsius air that caused the problem, but the 17-degree asphalt, which only got colder as time went on.
The field was not very enthusiastic after the opening of the pit lane, only a few drivers drove out onto the track in the first minutes for a few feeler laps – among them was Lewis Hamilton, who had won the previous practice with Mercedes. Even after twenty minutes, only two drivers had laps, the two Red Bull competitors.
This was a turning point in the development of the training, because from here the traffic gradually picked up. The previous best times run by the Red Bulls on medium tires seemed to be nothing but dust, as the McLarens carved almost five seconds out of them on soft tires, with settings that were more refined for the time trial. Of course, there were slips as well, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen both left and exited the area delimited by the white lines. The Dutchman called his car downright undriveable on the more worn tires after the ten-lap stage.
He was struggling for grip on Thursday and Max is still finding his feet so far today #F1 #LasVegasGP pic.twitter.com/YNmmExi5ZD
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 23, 2024
By the second half hour, the Ferraris and Mercedes emerged as the teams with a chance for first place. There was a moment in practice when the two Haas were in the lead, but a lot had changed before the final whistle.
The Red Bulls were only fitted with soft tires for the last ten minutes. Verstappen moved away from last place with a quick, faultless first lap and temporarily took the lead, with the grip improving by miles, he said. However, there were still answers to this.
The finale of the training session was not complete, as Lance Stroll stood aside with the Aston Martin on the side of the track. The green car must have had some kind of electronic problem, the electric shock warning light was also flashing. Because of this, the judges did not even touch the stopped vehicle for a while.
RED FLAG
Stroll stops on track – he’s parked up near the barriers#F1 #LasVegasGP pic.twitter.com/TjzqxzGtsO
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 23, 2024
Practically, this was the end of the substantive part of the training: the pit lane was opened for a minute, but after a few laps no one had entered. So in the end, George Russell became the fastest with Mercedes, ahead of Oscar Piastri’s McLaren and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. Verstappen ended up fifth, more than half a second behind, before Lando Norris finished.
The complete list of results
The weekend continues with the time trial at 7 a.m. Hungarian time.
Source: www.vezess.hu
