©McLaren
Lando Norris topped a disrupted second practice session for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which was twice halted in the closing stages due to concerns over a loose manhole cover at Turn 17.
The McLaren driver’s early soft-tyre benchmark proved untouchable once the red flags brought meaningful running to a halt.
Light rain before the session also left drivers wary, and it took five minutes before anyone ventured out onto what was expected to be a slippery 6.2km Strip Circuit. Grip was slow to build, with much of the early running focused on edging toward Charles Leclerc’s FP1 best of 1m34.802s.
Oscar Piastri was the first to surpass that mark during medium-tyre phases, signalling rapid track evolution as rubber accumulated. Leclerc soon restored order, clocking a 1m33.763s – over a second faster than his FP1 time and good enough to lead the initial medium-tyre exchanges.
Kimi Antonelli then moved to the top on his first soft-tyre push, only for Norris to edge ahead by 0.03s with what became the session’s fastest lap. The soft-tyre runs were soon interrupted, however, when the marshals reported a potentially loose drain cover at Turn 17, prompting a red flag with 21 minutes left.
Following a 15-minute inspection, race control allowed the session to resume with six minutes remaining. All 20 cars headed back out for a final attempt, but Leclerc’s run was abruptly ended by a gearbox issue that forced him to pull behind the barriers at Turn 5.
Barely any meaningful laps were completed before the Turn 17 concern re-emerged, triggering a second red flag and ending the session prematurely.
That locked in Norris’ time at the top, ahead of Antonelli and Leclerc’s earlier medium-tyre effort.
Nico Hülkenberg secured fourth, followed by Isack Hadjar and Racing Bulls team-mate Liam Lawson – separated by just 0.008s. George Russell took seventh ahead of Alex Albon, while Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top 10.
Championship hopeful Piastri finished a muted 14th, unable to improve after his early medium-tyre run.
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