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Lewis Hamilton was fastest in Las Vegas Grand Prix practice on Thursday with McLaren's Lando Norris splitting the two Mercedes and George Russell completing a British trio on top of the Formula 1 timesheets in the second session.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who won last year's race and can claim a fourth successive championship on Saturday night, was 17th at the end of the day - two seconds off the pace but without using the soft tyre. "It was really slippery on track today: I think we struggled to make the tyres work, especially over one lap, and we were quite far off with the pace," said Verstappen. "The issue for us is definitely tyre-related as we have no grip and it feels like driving on ice." Ferrari-bound seven-time world champion Hamilton had felt like walking away from Mercedes after the previous race in Sao Paulo, saying it had been the worst his car had ever been, but he was back with a bang in the Nevada desert.
The Briton topped the first practice timesheets in 01:35.001 seconds, 0.396 seconds ahead of Russell and 0.953 quicker than Norris in cool, slippery conditions around the glitzy city streets. Hamilton lapped in 1:33.825 in the late-night session, with Norris 0.011 slower and Russell 0.190 off the pace. The times were all set on the fastest, soft tyres with all drivers struggling for grip on the fast circuit. "I felt really good out there today," said Hamilton. "I think that is the first practice day this year that we've been consistently strong, and the car has felt quick throughout.
Despite topping both sessions, it is difficult to know exactly where we are in the competitive order with everyone running different fuel loads and run plans. Our long run pace didn't look quite as good as our speed on the single lap." Ferrari's Carlos Sainz was fourth fastest with teammate Charles Leclerc fifth and Alpine's Pierre Gasly sixth.
Norris's Australian teammate Oscar Piastri was eighth for McLaren, who are fighting a tight constructors' battle with Ferrari. Verstappen's under-fire Mexican teammate Sergio Perez was only 19th in practice two. "It was not a great day for us and it seems to have been tricky for everyone else as well. We are not as strong as we expected to be coming into the weekend," commented Leclerc, who took pole last year.
Second practice was red-flagged when Alex Albon's Williams came to a halt. The Thai driver had been late out of the garage as his team dealt with a fuel system issue that then led to the breakdown. Valtteri Bottas was handed a five-place grid penalty for exceeding the limit of power unit components after starting practice with a new energy store. The opening practice along the transformed Las Vegas Strip was far more successful than last year when the session lasted a mere eight minutes before Sainz's Ferrari was badly damaged by a loose drain cover.
Verstappen will be champion again if he beats Norris on Saturday or the McLaren driver fails to score three points more than him.
