F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix: Mercedes's George Russell Fastest in FP3 as Red Flag Ends Session Prematurely

In the closing hour of practice at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, George Russell showcased his prowess by claiming the top spot on the timesheets. The Mercedes driver's performance was notable in a session that encountered a red flag in its final minutes.

By Divyam Dubey | on November 18, 2023 Follow us on Autox Google News

Mercedes driver George Russell showed his superiority in the final practice session for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, setting the fastest lap time before the session was red-flagged five minutes early. On Friday night, drivers had the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the obstacles of the newly introduced Las Vegas Strip Circuit, a venue spanning 6.201 kilometres.

After a lacklustre showing on Friday, Mercedes looked remarkably fast on Saturday, especially when driven by Russell, who set the day's best time with a surprising 1 minute 34.093 seconds, placing himself less than four-tenths ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri. Despite the interruption caused by the red flag with less than five minutes remaining, Russell's position at the top remained undisturbed.

During the session, multiple narratives unfolded, one of which being Alex Albon's incident with the barrier, leading to a collision with the left side of his Williams car. Max Verstappen, who had been leading the standings by large margins at various points in the session, ran into trouble when he slid off the track on the first flying lap of his last run. Despite the difficulties, Verstappen managed to finish in fourth place on the timesheets, with teammate Sergio Perez not far behind.

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F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix: Free Practice 2 Result

F1 Las Vegas

Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin finished seventh, ahead of Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas of Williams, and Kevin Magnussen of Haas rounded out the top 10. During his last lap of the race, Lando Norris had to overcome an obstacle as he skidded out of Turn 12 and had to recover expertly. Despite nearly avoiding the wall, the compromised lap time demoted him to the 11th spot. The top 12 were as follows: Nico Hulkenberg (12), Lance Stroll (13), Esteban Ocon (14), and Zhou Guanyu (15).

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, driving for Ferrari, had their best lap times early in the practice when the circuit was at its slowest, but they subsequently fell to 16th and 17th by the end of the session. Yuki Tsunoda finished 18th, and Daniel Ricciardo came in last for AlphaTauri, separated by Pierre Gasly in the Alpine.

Pos Driver Team Time
1 George Russell Mercedes F1 Team 1m34.093s
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren F1 Team 1m34.491s
3 Logan Sargeant Williams Racing 1m34.645s
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1m34.643s
5 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing 1m34.706s
6 Alex Albon Williams Racing 1m34.726s
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin Formula One Team 1m34.788s
8 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes F1 Team 1m34.853s
9 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo F1 Team 1m34.908s
10 Kevin Magnussen MoneyGram Haas F1 1m35.067s
11 Lando Norris McLaren F1 Team 1m35.089s
12 Nico Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team 1m35.112s
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin Formula One Team 1m35.253s
14 Esteban Ocon Alpine F1 Team 1m35.297s
15 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo F1 Team 1m35.881s
16 Charles Leclerc Scuderia Ferrari 1m35.908s
17 Carlos Sainz Scuderia Ferrari 1m35.939s
18 Yuki Tsunoda Scuderia AlphaTauri 1m36.087s
19 Pierre Gasly Alpine F1 Team 1m36.485s
20 Daniel Ricciardo Scuderia AlphaTauri 1m37.778s

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The FIA decided prior to the session to increase passing opportunities by extending the second DRS zone on the Strip by 50 metres. Now that the weekend's practice sessions are over, the teams and drivers can meet for one last debriefing before the midnight local time qualifying session to fine-tune their setups.

Tags: F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix Mercedes George Russell

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