F1 News: Hamilton stays on top in Las Vegas GP Practice 2

On a cold night in Las Vegas and with drivers struggling for grip on the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, Lewis Hamilton again turned the fastest lap in Practice 2 for the Las Vegas GP with a time of 1m33.825s in his Mercedes. He was also quickest in Practice 1.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Mercedes often shines on a Friday before falling back on a Saturday. But could they have just found a sweet spot for their car, which can be tricky to get into a very narrow working window?

Hamilton’s lap was set on a set of Pirelli soft tires, and he was 0.011s faster than the McLaren of Lando Norris, who was 2nd fastest.

Hamilton’s teammate, George Russell, slotted into third, 0.190s behind.

Russell was followed by the two Ferraris of Carlos Sainz Jr and Charles Leclerc, 0.280s and 0.488s respectively behind Hamilton.

Max Verstappen, hoping to sew up his 4th straight World Driving title this weekend, was way down in 17th place, 2-seconds off the pace on medium Pirelli tires.  P19 for Perez looks fairly horrid on paper. But in reality, neither Red Bull driver completed a clean run on the softs before the red flags came out for a stranded Alex Albon.

Red Bull opted to switch focus to longer runs when the session resumed, thus leaving their drivers languishing down the order.

Alex Albon is the man to really miss out there, completing just three and a half laps thanks to a fuel systems issue. The Williams crew have worked so, so hard of late to rebuild crashed cars, it is the last thing they need.

That’s the opening day of practice completed, with the advantage very much with Mercedes. McLaren and Ferrari have had solid openings, Red Bull remain more of an unknown force at the moment.

2024 Las Vegas GP Practice 2 Results