F1 Las Vegas GP: Mercedes remains fastest as Russell tops red-flagged FP3

George Russell ensured Mercedes claimed a clean sweep of Las Vegas Grand Prix Formula 1 practice sessions with the fastest time, as a late red flag truncated the hour-long running.

The Briton claimed a 1m33.570s in the final 10 minutes of the session, which went unbeaten as Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin ground to a halt on the exit of Turn 12 to bring out a pause in the session.

A red light remained on by Stroll’s T-cam as his car appeared to shut down, which required time to clear to ensure the marshals could wheel the car away to safety. This left just a minute in the session’s run-time when it was eventually resumed, so there were no further improvements.

In a quiet first 15 minutes, Sergio Perez was the only driver with a time on the board; the Mexican remarked that the circuit was “nowhere” in terms of grip versus the end of Thursday’s FP2 session.

His medium-tyre lap was easily beaten by Yuki Tsunoda’s effort on softs, which began a long period of continual track evolution as the circuit again needed to come to the drivers.

Oscar Piastri then drew the times into the 1m35s, which prompted a subsequent battle over top spot between Charles Leclerc and Kevin Magnussen.

Thursday practice leader Mercedes then resumed its grasp at the top, as Lewis Hamilton set a 1m34.565s, which Russell beat by 0.09s on his follow-up effort. Hamilton returned the favour, but Russell made his way back to the top.

Max Verstappen briefly held top spot after spending most of the session floundering on the medium tyre with minimal grip – a scenario he rendered ‘undriveable’ – and the Dutchman posted a 1m34.137s lap, noting the improvement.

But this was swiftly beaten as the rest of the field started to open up their performance runs; Carlos Sainz captured a 1m33.918s, but Russell finally beat Hamilton’s FP2 benchmark with a 1m33.570s. 

Piastri got ahead of Sainz to go second fastest, while Lando Norris was fourth fastest behind the Ferrari driver. Verstappen’s effort was good enough for fifth, as Hamilton did not get a late time on the board before the red flag.

Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto put their Williams cars in seventh and eighth, as Magnussen and Pierre Gasly completed the top 10. 

Photos from Las Vegas GP Final Practice

F1 Las Vegas GP – FP3 results:

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Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	G. RussellMercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	18	1’33.570		238.576
2	O. PiastriMcLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	14	+0.215 1’33.785	0.215	238.029
3	C. SainzFerrari	55		Ferrari	Ferrari	16	+0.348 1’33.918	0.133	237.692
4	L. NorrisMcLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	14	+0.438 1’34.008	0.090	237.464
5	M. VerstappenRed Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	17	+0.567 1’34.137	0.129	237.139
6	L. HamiltonMercedes	44		Mercedes	Mercedes	17	+0.771 1’34.341	0.204	236.626
7	A. AlbonWilliams	23		Williams	Mercedes	15	+0.837 1’34.407	0.066	236.461
8	F. ColapintoWilliams	43		Williams	Mercedes	15	+1.153 1’34.723	0.316	235.672
9	K. MagnussenHaas F1 Team	20		Haas	Ferrari	13	+1.313 1’34.883	0.160	235.275
10	P. GaslyAlpine	10		Alpine	Renault	15	+1.335 1’34.905	0.022	235.220
11	N. HulkenbergHaas F1 Team	27		Haas	Ferrari	15	+1.338 1’34.908	0.003	235.213
12	C. LeclercFerrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	15	+1.371 1’34.941	0.033	235.131
13	S. PerezRed Bull Racing	11		Red Bull	Red Bull	19	+1.491 1’35.061	0.120	234.834
14	E. OconAlpine	31		Alpine	Renault	14	+1.890 1’35.460	0.399	233.852
15	F. AlonsoAston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	16	+2.368 1’35.938	0.478	232.687
16	Y. TsunodaRB	22		RB	Red Bull	18	+2.645 1’36.215	0.277	232.017
17	V. BottasSauber	77		Sauber	Ferrari	14	+2.842 1’36.412	0.197	231.543
18	L. LawsonRB	30		RB	Red Bull	18	+2.974 1’36.544	0.132	231.227
19	L. StrollAston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	13	+3.380 1’36.950	0.406	230.258
20	Z. GuanyuSauber	24		Sauber	Ferrari	16	+3.418 1’36.988	0.038	230.168
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