Russell and Mercedes set the pace for the third practice with an “interrupted” final
Formula 1 has switched off its engines again streets of Las Vegas for the second day in a row, the second day of the event, which began with a dispute, is being played out some weird free training 3.
After more than 20 minutes with very little mileage, virtually all the drivers took to the track on soft tires to set fast lap after fast lap, with the exception of the Red Bulls who continued to run medium speeds and had constant complaints from their drivers. , until the soft ones were mounted very late, in the last minutes.
At the end of FP3’s 60 minutes, George Russell was once again top of the time table with the fastest time. 1:33,570a time that allowed him to be 0.215 seconds faster than Oscar Piastri and 0.348 seconds ahead of Carlos Sainz, who finished in the top three ahead of red flag starring Lance Stroll, interrupted the end of the session and the fastest laps of a dozen drivers.
Lando Norris finished fourth and Max Verstappen fifth, and since then virtually no driver has been able to complete the final laps on the new soft tyres. Lewis Hamilton finished seventh with another Mercedes.
Alexander Albon, Franco Colapinto, Kevin Magnussen and Pierre Gasly round out the top ten. Behind were Charles Leclerc (12th), Sergio Perez (13th) and Fernando Alonso (15th) were among the drivers who eventually suffered a mechanical problem in the race. Canadian Aston Martin.
*Full description of FP3 after results and photos.
FP3 Results of the 2024 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas
Full FP3 report from the 2024 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas.
At the start of Free Practice 3, a number of drivers took to the track on the hard tires to do an installation lap and prepare for Sunday’s race, where they look set to play a significant role.
The first time for Friday local time was set by Sergio Perez in the media – 1:41.941. After 15 minutes of the session, only the Mexican driver’s time recorded, and in fact up to 12 drivers still had not set foot on the Las Vegas tarmac, a clear demonstration of the calm that existed in the garages before the session began. qualifying session.
Another Red Bull car, Max Verstappen’s, was the second car to lap and was 0.239 seconds behind its teammate before dropping to 1:41.726 and then 1:40.588. At the same time, Yuki Tsunoda was the first driver to opt for soft tires, a strategy that was copied by both McLarens.
Lando Norris on his first lap seemed destined to be at the top of the time table, but he lost all his advantage in sector 3 and was one second behind Verstappen, but still managed to become the FP3 benchmark a lap later. with 1:36.891. Behind him, Tsunoda was 0.6 seconds behind the British rider, while Zhou was third, more than two seconds behind.
Another McLaren, Oscar Piastri, managed to become fast immediately, allowing him to beat his teammate with a time of 1:35.759, a time more realistic than those seen in the opening minutes.
Halfway through the third free practice, the action on the track intensified and all the riders were on the tarmac at the same time. Lewis Hamilton found himself between the two McLarens on his first lap, although he was 0.8 seconds behind the Australian, before Charles Leclerc briefly took the lead with a 1:35.712 and Kevin Magnussen snatched pole position from him with a 1:35.625. Russell and Sainz also improved the Monegasque Ferrari’s time.
Behind, Alonso took eighth place, 1 second back, while the Red Bulls were the only drivers still on the medium tyres, with Verstappen continuing to complain on the radio after several braking passes and being the subject of the first yellow flag on race day. .
The first 1:34 went to Magnussen, who continued to lower the bar to set it at 1:34.883, while Leclerc and Russell improved to second and third and Nico Hulkenberg, driving the other Haas, was fourth. However, it was Hamilton’s 1:34.565 on his fifth lap on the softs that put him in first place before teammate Russell took it from him with a 1:34.475. But the seven-time world champion returned to action with a time of 1:34.341.
With just over 15 minutes left in the session, all drivers returned to the pits to remove a set of worn tires.
In the last 10 minutes, many drivers returned to the track on soft tyres, such as Perez and Verstappen. Russell was the first to improve his time and pass his teammate with a time of 1:34.218, before Verstappen showed his Red Bull’s potential for the first time with a time of 1:34.137.
Carlos Sainz was next to improve to take first place in the classification with a time of 1:33.918, but Russell passed him again in 1:33.570, with Piastri finishing second 0.215 seconds behind Mercedes and Norris fourth 0.438 seconds behind his compatriot. .
However, the final schedule picture was not complete by the end of the third FP as Lance Stroll had to park the car due to mechanical problems six minutes before the checkered flag and race management had to raise the red flag when many drivers were in the middle of their fastest laps. and so he had to abort the race and return to the pits before it could start again, but only to do a simulated start on the grid.
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