The Thursday in F1 Las Vegas GP saw some interruptions towards the end of FP2 but the day was largely unaffected despite low grip conditions.
Despite the late stoppage due to loose manhole cover at Turn 17, the Thursday in F1 Las Vegas GP saw lots of running from almost everyone with any large issues, even though the track surface provided low grip. There’s no pecking order at the front, with everyone looking to be in a good space.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc set the pace in FP1 and was followed by McLaren’s Lando Norris in FP2, when not many got a clean run in the end. The Monegasque showed better pace to start the F1 weekend and feels optimistic about the rest of the weekend, like teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Even though the Brit did not get a clean run in FP2, but he was positive how Thursday started. Norris had equal thoughts as teammate Oscar Piastri. Both felt night and day difference driving the McLaren from last year, when the F1 team struggled to get things together at the venue.
It may look like that Piastri struggled, but the Australian was positive about the day, where he couldn’t show his pace in FP2. Over at Red Bull, Yuki Tsunoda looked to be in better shape when matched against teammate Max Verstappen. The Japanese F1 driver will have to carry the momentum now.
For the Dutchman, he feels to be in a good space but still not 100%, as is Mercedes’ George Russell. The Brit says they are termed as favourites but it isn’t the case especially after Thursday. Teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli managed to match Russell and be on pace for a good result.
Norris: “[It’s] always tricky here. I think we have a better feeling in the car than what we had last year, so that’s a positive, and that was felt I would say already from Lap 1 today. Some good feeling, of course not a lot of running in the end, not really any high-fuel running, but the pace clearly is there. I think it’s pretty tight between a lot of people, and many people didn’t even get their laps in. Apart from that, yeah, I think we made some steps forward from FP1 to FP2, and hopefully we can just do some more from FP2 to FP3. I mean, we’re fighting for pole.”
Piastri: “I think FP1 was pretty good. Some things to work on, but overall I felt like it was a pretty good session. FP2, I did two laps for the whole session. Difficult to know exactly where we sit. I think clearly the car’s got decent pace, but not that many people got a great run on the softs. A little bit difficult to know exactly where we sit, but still plenty of positives I think, plenty of things to look through overnight. I think so, yes. Again, it’s just very difficult to know because obviously it was a bit wet at the start, the track was evolving a lot, so it’s just difficult to know exactly where everyone sits. I think we changed a few things into FP2 which seemed to feel pretty good. We’ll try and do some more tweaking overnight and see what we’ve got. I feel okay. Would I have loved some more laps? Yes, but I think the track is going to continue to change quite a bit through the rest of the weekend. We’ll see what kind of weather we’ve got tomorrow, what we get here, and we’ll take it from there.”
Leclerc: “Our pace was strong today and I think we are in a relatively good place. That said, our competitors are strong and we have to wait and see how qualifying will play out. It will be tight, so I hope we can build on the positive day we had today and be in the fight for a top position tomorrow. Now, it’s all about trying to anticipate the conditions we will find in qualifying and start the day on the right foot.”
Verstappen: “It’s a lot colder here and the surface is very slippery so you cannot compare them to other tracks just because it’s low downforce, it’s not a given that you are going to be quick here. It’s been okay, bit difficult to understand what to do with those interruptions. I think we still need to improve a little bit to find a bit more grip out there. Obviously of course the track is improving quite a bit every session so we’ll try to just focus on that, seeing how we can operate the tyres for Qualifying and the race.”
Russell: “We haven’t had a bad day today. I think we are in the mix near the front, but we need to be realistic that several of our competitors also looked strong but didn’t put their laps together yet. We’ve come into this weekend with people keen to put the favourites tag on us, but the situation has changed a lot in the 12 months since we were so strong here last year. We have made the car stronger at other circuits but that has possibly made us slightly less strong here. It is definitely going to be close come qualifying tomorrow. It looks like there are any number of cars that could take pole position so we will have to be at our very best if we are to score a good result. We will work hard overnight and see what we can do tomorrow.”
Like it has been all of F1 2025, it was close in the qualifying trim and there were plenty of midfield teams inside the Top 10 across the two practice sessions. In fact, Williams’ Alexander Albon ended up second in FP1 in a good day. He thought they were able to work the tyres well which was key.
Teammate Carlos Sainz backed him up showing good pace as well, much like the Visa Cash App RB pair of Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson. They were both in the Top 10 in disrupted FP2, where the Kiwi felt the rain but still managed to finish close to teammate after step up from first to second session.
Hadjar was positive with the aim of Q3. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was pleased with his outing as well, but teammate Franco Colapinto struggled as per his admission. Haas’ Oliver Bearman had his share of struggles too due to lack of grip, but feels that they are in a good space.
Both he and Esteban Ocon hope for a step to make it in Q3. The Aston Martin and Sauber pair of Nico Hulkenberg, Gabriel Bortoleto, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were satisfied by their run. While the former opted for a hard tyre run, the latter went for long runs on the soft compound.
Gasly: “It’s been an encouraging day for us today. I felt good in the car from the start of Practice, which is important, especially at a difficult track like this where you need confidence in the car to take enough risk. The car balance has been in a decent place all day and there are a couple of things I would like to work on but, overall, I have been comfortable and able to push the car towards its limits. Free Practice 2 was a messier session, also with the red flag stoppages at the end, and we were not able to fully maximise our programme. We will keep working hard and take some confidence into tomorrow. I have a decent record in Qualifying here so I want to keep the stats up! The target is to be in the mix for Q3 and we will give it our best to try and achieve that.”
Albon: “Overall, I’m happy with today. This track suits us on paper and it seems to be doing so, but it is still close across the grid with very fine margins. In FP1 we got the tyres to work well, while FP2 was a little bit disruptive and we didn’t end up getting everything out of it. There are a few things to improve and focus on for tomorrow, and some more data crunching to do ahead of qualifying, but we’re in a decent place after today.”
Lawson: “I’m feeling positive after today’s sessions. We struggled a little bit in FP1 and not everyone got to complete their laps during FP2, so we need to be mindful that we’re perhaps not quite where we ended up. The main thing is that we’re in a much better place than where we started today. Tomorrow, we’ll have another opportunity to keep building on the car, so will see where we end up as it’s very close as usual. It’s super low grip on track and we had light drizzle which we couldn’t see but could feel, making it very confusing to drive. Tomorrow, we shouldn’t have any rain, but if we do it’s going to be very tough. As always, we’ll be working hard to ensure everything comes together for Qualifying.”
Bearman: “We know there’s big track evolution on a track like this, but honestly, those first few laps I did in FP1 – on a new track – I was shocked by how low the grip was. It’s hard to describe the low level of grip that’s out there, but in turn, it means track evolution is incredibly high. In FP2, we were quite early to get onto the soft tire, I didn’t manage to do a lap on it sadly, but it meant when I pitted, I was in a good position, and when I went out again, I was suddenly five or six tenths further from the front. It was a tricky session with the rain, traffic, and other interruptions, but I think we learned a lot. It’s a new track for me, so I’m also finding my rhythm around here, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Alonso: “It’s difficult to read anything today as the red flags disrupted some of the push laps at the end. There was also a little bit of rain in Free Practice Two. So far it seems we don’t have a lot of pace here, but we’ll see how we go tomorrow in Qualifying.”
Hulkenberg: “It was a pretty standard Friday for us. We worked through the usual run plan, and FP1 felt quite positive overall, while FP2 was a bit more difficult. I think a lot of drivers didn’t get a clean run on the softs, so the picture is still a bit unclear in terms of pace. There’s the usual work to do overnight: improving the balance of the car and fine-tuning the setup. It’ll be interesting to see how things unfold tomorrow once everything settles and we get a clearer read on the field.”
Here’s how Thursday in F1 Las Vegas GP panned out
