Leclerc paces opening Las Vegas GP practice

Charles Leclerc topped a dusty first practice session for Ferrari at the Las Vegas Grand Prix while the title-contending McLaren drivers struggled for pace.

The Las Vegas street circuit started cold and grimy as the sun set and the track opened for FP1. The ambient temperature started at a chilly 57 degrees F, while the track surface temperature was only marginally warmer, at 64 degrees F.

Drivers spent the first half hour of the session cleaning the track, with great plumes of dust kicked up by the cars around the track and particularly down the Strip, leading to rapid improvements in lap times even as the favored medium tires wore away.

Ferrari was the first front-running team to switch over to the soft tires for some representative flying laps, for which Leclerc immediately felt an affinity. The Monaco native improved with every run he completed on the red-marked compound, eventually setting the benchmark at 1m34.802s before switching back to a final run on mediums to close the session.

Alex Albon was his surprise closest challenger, although the Williams driver completed his flying lap much later in the session, in the last 10 minutes, to get the track at its best. He was 0.166s off the pace.

Yuki Tsunoda was the second surprise of the session, the under-pressure Japanese driver setting the third-fastest lap to sit 0.269s off the pace as the fastest Red Bull Racing driver. Teammate Max Verstappen, third in the title standings and still within mathematical contention of the championship, was fourth and 0.038s further back.

Verstappen set only one flying lap on the softs, whereas most other drivers, including Tsunoda, completed multiple runs. The Dutchman’s best time came after he abandoned his first attempt at a flyer, turning it into a second warm-up lap.

Carlos Sainz was fifth in the second Williams, lapping 0.377s off the pace, to sit ahead of the two McLaren drivers. Title leader Lando Norris was the quicker of the two, taking sixth and lapping 0.456s off the pace. The Englishman did so despite scraping the barriers early in the session while running the mediums. His fastest time was set on his third attempt after losing his first two laps to mistakes at Turn 12.

Oscar Piastri was eighth and 0.192s slower than Norris. The Australian was running with an alternative car configuration, McLaren giving him a lower-downforce rear wing as an experiment as the team seeks to move past last year’s disappointing Las Vegas performance.

Isack Hadjar was a late improver to split the McLaren pair and take seventh, 0.497s off the pace.

Last year’s dominant winner, George Russell, was ninth and 0.732s off the pace. His teammate Kimi Antonelli appeared to confirm the Mercedes team’s difficulties, lapping just 0.004s slower to complete the top 10.

Lewis Hamilton was 11th after some scrappy follow-up laps on softs. He headed Pierre Gasly, whose Alpine car looked comfortable around the Las Vegas streets, and Liam Lawson.

Aston Martin teammates Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll led Haas duo Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon and Sauber pair Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, the last of whom will see the stewards after the session for an alleged yellow flag infringement. Franco Colapinto was last in the order, 0.4s off the back of the pack.

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