Las Vegas Grand Prix – Free Practice 3: Russell dominates the final free practice

George Russell set the fastest time in the final free practice session of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, allowing Mercedes to dominate all practice sessions on the urban circuit. The British driver outpaced Oscar Piastri (McLaren) by 0.215 seconds and Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) by 0.348 seconds.

The session was marked by tricky track conditions and a constant evolution of grip, and ended prematurely following a red flag caused by Lance Stroll’s stoppage five minutes before the end. This interruption prevented several drivers, including Charles Leclerc, from completing their final fast laps.

The unusually low temperatures (17.4 degrees) continued to influence the behavior of the cars on the track. The start of the session was particularly difficult for Red Bull, Max Verstappen, frustrated, even described his car’s behavior as undrivable on the radio. However, his team managed to improve the situation during the session, allowing the world champion to climb to fifth place.

Mercedes confirmed its impressive form from Friday, where Lewis Hamilton had dominated the first two free practice sessions. This time, Hamilton finished sixth, 0.771 seconds behind his teammate Russell, who set the fastest time in 1:33.570.

Battle of the teams and end-of-session incidents.

McLaren was competitive with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris finishing second and fourth respectively. Piastri’s performance was particularly remarkable on this track that he was discovering, outpacing his experienced teammate by more than two tenths.

The Haas made a strong impression during the session, Kevin Magnussen had temporarily taken the lead before finally finishing ninth. Great performance also for Williams, which places Alex Albon in seventh position and Franco Colapinto in eighth.

The session was marked by several traffic incidents, notably between RB drivers Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson in the final minutes.

Sergio Perez also experienced a frustrating end to the session, as he was unable to complete his final lap due to poorly managed timing at the exit of the pits after the red flag.

The rapid evolution of the track and the close performances between the leading teams suggest that the qualifying session will be particularly hotly contested. With four different teams in the top 5 and relatively small time gaps, the battle for pole position is shaping up to be intense in Las Vegas.

The ranking of Free Practice 3 of the Las Vegas GP