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F1 Las Vegas GP: Hamilton fastest from Norris

Lewis Hamilton ended Thursday with a clean sweep of Formula 1 practice sessions at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, and beat Lando Norris by 0.011s in FP2.

The Mercedes driver set a 1m33.825s on soft tyres before a brief red flag called for the stranded Alex Albon, who had struggled throughout the session with fuel system problems.

Versus the low-grip conditions in FP1, it took less time for the drivers to get up to speed; Hamilton got within a second of his first-session best on his opening run with the medium tyre, although this was supplanted by Lando Norris' 1m35.406s.

George Russell was the first to go faster than the FP1 times while still on mediums; the Briton set a 1m34.979s as the new benchmark, which Charles Leclerc overturned by almost 0.4s.

The Monegasque then set a 1m34.476s to demonstrate the further track evolution, capping off the early medium runs.

Russell then kicked off with the soft tyres and logged a 1m34.015s to go fastest, a time that was two-tenths clear of Hamilton's first effort - and the two Mercedes drivers were subsequently split by Carlos Sainz in the order.

Norris went quicker and took the times below the 1m34s - setting a 1m33.836s to throw McLaren's hat into the early ring, although Hamilton then nudged ahead by 0.01s to go fastest.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38 (Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images)

The soft-tyre runs were then put on pause when the red flag was flown for Albon; the Williams driver was stranded in the pits for the majority of the session with a fuel system issue and, when he got on track, he managed just a handful of laps before his FW46 ground to a halt.

After green flag running resumed, most chose to focus on their higher-fuel runs on the medium tyre - prompting no further changes in the order.

Norris hence split the Mercedes as Russell kept hold of third, 0.09s ahead of Sainz in the final timing order. This ensured the top four were all within 0.3s, a much finer margin compared to the earlier session's near-second gap.

Leclerc was fifth fastest over Pierre Gasly, as Kevin Magnussen demonstrated Haas' strong pace with seventh overall. 

Oscar Piastri was eighth in the FP2 order, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Yuki Tsunoda - RB finding more pace versus its efforts in the earlier practice session.

This contrasted with the lead Red Bull squad which only managed 17th and 19th as Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez set their best times on the medium tyre.

F1 Las Vegas GP - FP2 results

   
1
 - 
4
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Laps Time Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom L. Hamilton Mercedes 44 Mercedes Mercedes 25

1'33.825

  237.928
2 United Kingdom L. Norris McLaren 4 McLaren Mercedes 25

+0.011

1'33.836

0.011 237.900
3 United Kingdom G. Russell Mercedes 63 Mercedes Mercedes 29

+0.190

1'34.015

0.179 237.447
4 Spain C. Sainz Ferrari 55 Ferrari Ferrari 29

+0.280

1'34.105

0.090 237.220
5 Monaco C. Leclerc Ferrari 16 Ferrari Ferrari 29

+0.488

1'34.313

0.208 236.696
6 France P. Gasly Alpine 10 Alpine Renault 30

+0.826

1'34.651

0.338 235.851
7 Denmark K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team 20 Haas Ferrari 20

+0.861

1'34.686

0.035 235.764
8 Australia O. Piastri McLaren 81 McLaren Mercedes 26

+0.973

1'34.798

0.112 235.485
9 Germany N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team 27 Haas Ferrari 24

+0.993

1'34.818

0.020 235.436
10 Japan Y. Tsunoda RB 22 RB Red Bull 23

+1.172

1'34.997

0.179 234.992
11 Finland V. Bottas Sauber 77 Sauber Ferrari 28

+1.195

1'35.020

0.023 234.935
12 France E. Ocon Alpine 31 Alpine Renault 26

+1.396

1'35.221

0.201 234.439
13 Canada L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18 Aston Martin Mercedes 27

+1.426

1'35.251

0.030 234.366
14 Spain F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14 Aston Martin Mercedes 25

+1.615

1'35.440

0.189 233.901
15 New Zealand L. Lawson RB 30 RB Red Bull 24

+1.846

1'35.671

0.231 233.337
16 China Z. Guanyu Sauber 24 Sauber Ferrari 28

+1.940

1'35.765

0.094 233.108
17 Netherlands M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1 Red Bull Red Bull 25

+2.009

1'35.834

0.069 232.940
18 Argentina F. Colapinto Williams 43 Williams Mercedes 30

+2.043

1'35.868

0.034 232.857
19 Mexico S. Perez Red Bull Racing 11 Red Bull Red Bull 25

+2.230

1'36.055

0.187 232.404
20 Thailand A. Albon Williams 23 Williams Mercedes 4

+5.804

1'39.629

3.574 224.067
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