Hamilton tops first practice of Las Vegas GP ahead of Russell

Hamilton tops first practice of Las Vegas GP ahead of Russell

22nd November 2024 0 By Kamron Kent

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton topped the timing sheets of first free practice, ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, pipping his teammate George Russell.

Feature image credit: Red Bull Content Pool

The sun had set on the Nevada state leaving Las Vegas to glow up in all it’s glory. With the track lit under the powerful floodlights and drivers ready to go, it wasn’t long before they were out on track testing grip levels, data gathering and set-up work.

Many drivers struggled initially with grip, including championship contenders Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and McLaren’s Lando Norris, and many were forced to use the run-off area.

However, it was the seven-time world champion of Hamilton who was the fastest driver in Las Vegas with a lap time of one minute, 35.001 seconds on the board. The departing Mercedes driver completed the session comfortably quicker than his teammate, Russell, who finished second, three-tenths behind.

Norris completed the top three, in third, nine-tenths off the pace. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was the first driver to be outside the one-second window of Hamilton’s best time as the Monegasque finished fourth ahead of Verstappen, who looks all but assured to secure the title this weekend.

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, completed the Scuderia’s first practice session down in sixth ahead of Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), Oscar Piastri (McLaren), Pierre Gasly (Alpine) and Sergio Perez (Red Bull), who were seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th respectively.

Kevin Magnussen, of Haas, was the fastest driver inside the bottom 10, in 11th ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Williams’ Alexander Albon, in 12th and 13th respectively. These three drivers were the last to remain within two seconds of the benchmark pace.

Gasly’s teammate Esteban Ocon was the first driver outside the two-second mark, in 14th, 2.151s off the pace ahead of Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg who completed the top 15.

The two Kick Saubers of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu occupied 16th and 18th. Bottas will serve a five-place grid penalty this weekend for an additional power unit element outside of his allowance. This allowed Williams’ Franco Colapinto to squeeze in between the two drivers in 17th, the first driver to be over three seconds away from the best lap time.

In turn, Visa Cash App RB’s Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson rounded out the 20-car field in 19th and 20th.

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Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

CategoryFormula 1 Formula Series News
TagsF1 George Russell Las Vegas Las Vegas GP Las Vegas Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton Mercedes

About the author

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

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