Like everything else about the Grand Prix weekend in Las Vegas, everything was strange about the final practice session in Sin City, with George Russell at the top of the timesheets, Williams rookie Logan Sargent was faster than Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
The red flag flew again during the final practice session of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, but this time it ended without as much confusion as on Friday morning.
FP1 stopped on the track due to a safety issue and lasted only a few minutes before being called out. When everything was settled, the second practice session didn’t start until 2:30 a.m, but the fans had already all left the racetrack.
This red flag also led to the cancellation of FP3. However, by the end of the session, less than six minutes had been lost due to Alex Albon’s accident which caused the rear tire to come off his Williams.
But don’t rush to root for Russell for qualifying pole position or race victory.
Exactly who will be fastest around this new street circuit remains unclear, as not everyone had been able to complete a run on soft tires before Albon’s accident.
Max Verstappen was one of the players who failed to set the international time. The first flying lap on soft tyres, towards the end of the session, was canceled and a red flag denied him the chance for another lap.
Still, he was fourth quickest overall, slightly ahead of Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez one place behind. Ahead of both was Logan Sargeant who had put in an impressive time before his fellow Williams driver’s crash, but the American will do well to repeat the trick in qualifying.
The Las Vegas strip has been transformed into an F1 circuit for a unique weekend of action as the 2023 season nears its close. With the second-longest circuit on the calendar, and a fresh surface, there is set to be plenty of unknowns and you can watch all of the action on Sky Sports.
It was an indicator of his car’s pace on this fast track, though, hinting that Q3 appearances could be on the cards for Williams. Lewis Hamilton is probably in a bit more trouble, as he only managed to finish eighth despite the two Ferraris behind him retiring from the race.
Neither were able to complete fast qualifying runs on soft tires, resulting in a 16th and 17th place on medium tires, but both were very fast in FP2, so pole position for Ferrari is not an unrealistic prospect.
Even if Carlos Sainz were able to qualify fastest, row 6 is the best position he could hope for. He was forced to have a new energy storage unit fitted to his car after sustaining on-track damage in FP1 and was given a 10-place grid penalty, a result widely seen as extremely harsh for the Spaniard.
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