Lewis Hamilton set the pace in a cold FP2 for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver taking thriving in the low grip to beat Lando Norris by 0.011s.

The session was briefly paused for a red flag when Alex Albon’s Williams ground to a halt on the side of the track with a fuel system problem.

Lewis Hamilton makes it back-to-back P1s in Las Vegas

After a chilly opening practice hour for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, it was downright cold for FP2 with the track temperature a measly 11’C creating a slippery surface with low grip.

Valtteri Bottas was the first to break into the 1:30s, but within five minutes his 1:39 was obsolete and Lewis Hamilton was P1 with a 1:35.8.

George Russell and Sergio Perez both reported an unusual problem as they asked their respective teams to close up their helmets as too much cold wind was coming in while Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen were struggling to stay on the racing line and Kevin Magnussen went for a spin.

Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso told Aston Martin to “change the setup” as he had “more bouncing”.

F1 2024: Team-mate head-to-head stats

👉F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates

👉F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Leclerc went quickest with a 1:34.6, before lowering that to a 1:34.4, Russell improved to P2 and Hamilton off at Turn 1. Alex Albon found himself stuck in the pits with just three laps on the board as Williams worked to resolve a fuel system issue.

Russell was the first of the frontrunners to bolt on a set of soft Pirellis and immediately went quickest with a 1:34.0, taking over half a second off his medium tyre run. Hamilton went second quickest but was two-tenths down.

As for Pierre Gasly, the Alpine driver wasn’t happy with the traffic on the street circuit. “Thank you very much,” he sarcastically said. “Honestly they can’t open their eyes. What is the deal with them today? Jet lag?”

Williams got Albon back onto the track just after the halfway point but his session ended with his FW46 parked on the side of the track as he came to a halt. That brought out the red flags.

“The team attempted to repair Alex’s fuel system and participate in the remainder of FP2, however the issue has persisted which unfortunately forced the car to stop on track. We will investigate further after the session,” Williams said in a brief statement.

Back on track, Hamilton was P1 heading into the final 10 minutes, the Mercedes driver on a 1:33.8, which put him 0.011s up on Lando Norris. Russell was third, 0.190s off the pace.

That’s how it remained, the trio finishing ahead of Carlos Sainz and Leclerc with Gasly sixth. As for Verstappen, he was P17 but only ran the medium tyres.

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff is not getting carried away with Hamilton’s back-to-back P1s.

“It was a pretty good start,” he told F1 TV. “But I don’t want to say too much as we’ve been quick in some of the early sessions during the weekends when there is not a lot of grip.

“It suits our car better the cold, Spa was cold and Silverstone was cold.”

Times

1 Lewis HAMILTON 1:33.825
2 Lando NORRIS +0.011
3 George RUSSELL +0.190
4 Carlos SAINZ +0.280
5 Charles LECLERC +0.488
6 Pierre GASLY +0.826
7 Kevin MAGNUSSEN +0.861
8 Oscar PIASTRI +0.973
9 Nico HULKENBERG +0.993
10 Yuki TSUNODA +1.172
11 Valtteri BOTTAS +1.195
12 Esteban OCON +1.396
13 Lance STROLL +1.426
14 Fernando ALONSO +1.615
15 Liam LAWSON +1.846
16 ZHOU Guanyu +1.940
17 Max VERSTAPPEN +2.009
18 Franco COLAPINTO +2.043
19 Sergio PEREZ +2.230
20 Alexander ALBON +5.804

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