F1 Las Vegas GP: Hamilton stays on top in second…

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.

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.

Photos from Las Vegas GP Practice

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44	Mercedes	Mercedes	25	1'33.825		237.928
2	L. Norris McLaren	4	McLaren	Mercedes	25	+0.011 1'33.836	0.011	237.900
3	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	29	+0.190 1'34.015	0.179	237.447
4	C. Sainz Ferrari	55	Ferrari	Ferrari	29	+0.280 1'34.105	0.090	237.220
5	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	29	+0.488 1'34.313	0.208	236.696
6	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Renault	30	+0.826 1'34.651	0.338	235.851
7	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20	Haas	Ferrari	20	+0.861 1'34.686	0.035	235.764
8	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	26	+0.973 1'34.798	0.112	235.485
9	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27	Haas	Ferrari	24	+0.993 1'34.818	0.020	235.436
10	Y. Tsunoda RB	22	RB	Red Bull	23	+1.172 1'34.997	0.179	234.992
11	V. Bottas Sauber	77	Sauber	Ferrari	28	+1.195 1'35.020	0.023	234.935
12	E. Ocon Alpine	31	Alpine	Renault	26	+1.396 1'35.221	0.201	234.439
13	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Mercedes	27	+1.426 1'35.251	0.030	234.366
14	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Mercedes	25	+1.615 1'35.440	0.189	233.901
15	L. Lawson RB	30	RB	Red Bull	24	+1.846 1'35.671	0.231	233.337
16	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24	Sauber	Ferrari	28	+1.940 1'35.765	0.094	233.108
17	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	Red Bull	Red Bull	25	+2.009 1'35.834	0.069	232.940
18	F. Colapinto Williams	43	Williams	Mercedes	30	+2.043 1'35.868	0.034	232.857
19	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11	Red Bull	Red Bull	25	+2.230 1'36.055	0.187	232.404
20	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	4	+5.804 1'39.629	3.574	224.067
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