George Russell delivered an impressive performance with a time of 1:34.093, securing the top spot and finishing nearly 0.4 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. In a surprising turn of events, Logan Sargeant of Williams claimed the third position, leaving world champion Max Verstappen and his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez trailing behind.
Unfortunately, Alex Albon, another Williams driver, brought the practice session to an abrupt end. His collision with the barrier at Turn 5 caused his left-rear tire to detach and roll along the track.
This incident prevented Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, who had shown promising early pace, from completing their planned runs on soft tires in the session’s closing stages. Consequently, they finished in 16th and 17th places, respectively. Leclerc, who had topped Friday’s Practice Two, remains a strong contender heading into qualifying.
Sainz also hopes to make his mark on the timesheets. However, Leclerc carries the team’s aspirations for a race win, as his teammate faces a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race. This penalty stemmed from Ferrari’s necessity to exceed Sainz’s allocated number of batteries for the season, owing to damage caused by a faulty water valve cover that led to the suspension of first practice on Thursday.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso secured the seventh position, finishing ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who couldn’t quite match Russell’s pace but may find encouragement in his teammate’s performance.
Lando Norris, on the other hand, lagged behind his teammate and finished 11th for McLaren. Stay tuned for more thrilling updates and action-packed racing from the Las Vegas Grand Prix.