Mercedes’ George Russell topped the final hour of practice for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by two tenths of a second as title-contending McLaren pair Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both hit trouble. 

With Race Control signalling a wet track ahead of the start of the session, the early runners headed out on track on Intermediate tyres. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was first across the line and the Australian stopped the clock at 1:47.162. He was followed by Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Haas’ Esteban Ocon. 

Hamilton moved to the top on a lap of 1:45.758, 0.087s ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen who had nudged Piastri back to third. The Australian title contender was improving, however, and his next lap, a 1:43.896, took him back to P1. 

As the track conditions improved, Hamilton lowered the benchmark to 1:43.137, buy championship leader Norris then put together purple first and second sectors to outpace the seven-time champion by 0.059s. 

Hamilton was continuing to eke out small gains, however, and soon after the 20-minute mark the Ferrari driver again took over in P1 with a lap of 1:42.809 that put him 0.269 clear of Norris. 

Just before the halfway point, and as Mercedes Kimi Antonelli climbed to P2 on inters with a lap of 1:42.991, Norris emerged on red-banded Soft tyres. It was too early for slicks, however, and the Briton’s attempted flyer ended when he was forced to the cut the Turn 7/8 complex. 

Hamilton looked set to become the first driver to make the Softs work but after putting in purple first and second sectors he almost collided with the rear of a Racing Bull as traffic snarled in the final corners. 

In the end it was Yuki Tsunoda who got the tyres right and the Japanese racer jumped from the lower half of the timesheet to P1 with a lap of 1:42.499. His stay in P1 was brief, however, and he was soon ousted by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who posted a lap of 1:41.867 to take top spot. 

Verstappen was improving on his Soft run, however, and after taking P3 he jumped to the top with a lap of 1:39.156. 

The track was clearly improving in leaps and bounds and Tsunoda leapfrogged his team-mate to move back to P1 only for Leclerc to post a lap of 1:38.251 to moved six tenths clear of the Red Bull driver. 

Hamilton, though, was flying on his next lap and when the seven-time champion crossed the line his 1:37.317 moved him 0.936s clear of his team-mate. 

Verstappen then went half a second beyond that to reclaim P1 but Leclerc carved out another 0.351 to move back to the top. Verstappen then posted a lap of 1:35.646

It looked like Norris might have toppled the Dutchman as he went quickest through the middle sector to sit three tenths clear of Verstappen but the McLaren driver abandoned the lap in the final sector and headed back to the pit lane. 

The improvements were coming thick and fast, however, and with four minutes left on the clock, Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson briefly jumped to top spot before he was bounced out by Mercedes’ George Russell and then by Williams’ Alex Albon who logged a lap of 1:34.875. 

It was Russell who had the final say, however and in the final moments of the session 2024 Las Vegas winner moved to top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:34.281. 

Verstappen looked set to challenge that as he posted a purple first sector, but he encountered traffic and after being forced offline onto a damp patch of track he went off into an escape road and his lap was ruined. 

It left the Dutchman in P2 behind Russell, with Albon third ahead of Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar and Hamilton. Sixth place went to Antonelli with Lawson in seventh ahead of Aston Martin pair Lance stroll and Fernando Alonso. The top 10 order was rounded out by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. 

In a surprise outcome the title contending McLaren pair of Norris and Piastri ended the session in P19 and P20 respectively with both suffering from technical issues during the qualifying simulations. 

2025 FIA Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix – Free Practice 3 
1 George Russell Mercedes 1:34.054 21 237.348
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:34.281 0.227 28 236.777
3 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:34.875 0.821 21 235.294
4 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:35.169 1.115 26 234.567
5 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:35.269 1.215 29 234.321
6 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:35.385 1.331 23 234.036
7 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:35.439 1.385 25 233.904
8 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:35.533 1.479 11 233.674
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:35.540 1.486 12 233.657
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:35.562 1.508 13 233.603
11 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:35.586 1.532 18 233.544
12 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:35.662 1.608 22 233.359
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:35.738 1.684 16 233.173
14 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:35.817 1.763 24 232.981
15 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:35.908 1.854 27 232.760
16 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 1:36.305 2.251 17 231.801
17 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:36.650 2.596 11 230.973
18 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:36.667 2.613 24 230.932
19 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:37.023 2.969 20 230.085
20 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:37.112 3.058 18 229.874