Las Vegas (AFP) – Championship leader Lando Norris went fastest in Thursday’s second practice for the Las Vegas Grand Prix in a session disrupted by two red flags, one for a loose manhole cover. The Briton, who boasts a 24-point lead over McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in the driver standings, completed his hot lap just before crimson fury struck the Las Vegas Strip. Norris was quickest around the 6.201-km street circuit with a lap of 1min 33.602secs – 0.029sec ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli.
Moments later, the session was red-flagged to check a manhole cover. Cars returned to the track with six minutes remaining, time enough for Charles Leclerc of Ferrari to end his session early with a gearbox issue, before a final red flag definitively curtailed the action. “We didn’t manage to get too much from FP2 given the disruption, but we did get a slightly better feeling than in FP1,” said Norris, who was sixth in opening practice. “We made some good progress and we’ve got a reasonable feeling altogether. Some positives to build on and some areas to try and improve going into tomorrow.”
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Monaco’s Leclerc was third in a session where many of the drivers did not have a soft tyre run, including Piastri, who was 14th and 0.891 adrift of title rival Norris. Australian Piastri, who was 34 points clear in the standings after winning the Dutch Grand Prix in August, has not managed a podium finish in the past five races. While Norris cannot secure the world championship crown this weekend, he could doom the repeat bid of four-time defending champion Max Verstappen, the Dutchman entering 49 points adrift.
Verstappen was ninth in his Red Bull in the second session, 0.503 off the pace. Leclerc set the fastest time in first practice in 1:34.802 with Thailand’s Alexander Albon second for Williams and Japan’s Yuki Tsunoda of Red Bull third. A lack of grip marked the opening session on the Las Vegas strip as many cars skidded or failed to brake in some corners, Norris touching a wall but getting away with it.
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