Sergio Perez, Red Bull, Las Vegas Strip Circuit, 2024

As it happened: 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix third practice

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This session has finished. No further updates will be posted.

Third practice for the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix is coming up next

Lewis Hamilton set the pace in both practice sessions yesterday, chalking up a best of 1’33.825. Lando Norris was close behind, just a hundredth of a second slower in his McLaren.

Red Bull’s performance remains a significant question mark heading into the final hour of practice. Max Verstappen was only 17th fastest yesterday after he had to bail out of his quickest lap due to a red flag.

When practice began yesterday the track was extremely dusty and slippery. It cleaned up over the course of F1’s two practice sessions, but local traffic has run over the public roads which form most of its layout since then, so the grip levels will have degraded again since then.

Final practice is go: The Aston Martin drivers are out scrubbing tyres as usual, Sergio Perez is also lapping as is yesterday’s pace-setter Hamilton.

Perez puts up a 1’41.941 on the medium rubber. “Miles off,” is his verdict, presumably a reference to the track conditions. “Not learning much at the moment.” Race engineer Hugh Bird says he’s “happy to box at the end of the lap.” “What it is at the moment I don’t think there’s much point in running,” adds Perez.

Hamilton is brought in to change tyres. Race engineer Peter Bonnington tells him: “It’s quali crew, so it will be a slow stop.”

Yesterday the Williams drivers were shown the black-and-white flag for crossing the line at the pit lane entrance. It’s been repainted today to make it brighter.

Only the Red Bull drivers are circulating at the moment, despite their earlier misgivings about the conditions. Verstappen goes up to second, two-tenths of a second off Perez. Now Norris and Tsunoda join the track.

Norris is on the softs but his first run is a second off Verstappen’s best on mediums. There’s 13 cars out now including Charles Leclerc’s.

Yuki Tsunoda puts up a 1’37.517, that’s just under four seconds off yesterday’s best. But the McLaren drivers immediately beat that, Oscar Piastri topping the times with a 1’35.759, so the track is clearly improving quickly now.

Leclerc goes top with a 1’35.715 – but Kevin Magnussen immediately beats that in the Haas, by eight hundredths of a second. He had a strong race in Mexico but missed the last round in Brazil due to illness, and not for the first time in his career knows he is counting down the final grands prix of his F1 career.

Vertappen’s been off at turn five, where he went wide earlier. “It’s only getting worse… The car is undriveable,” he says. “A couple more laps please, Max,” replies Gianpiero Lambiase.

“I can’t drive it,” Verstappen insists. “I’m going to crash.” He pits, leaving only him and Norris not circulating.

Hulkenberg puts the second Haas into the top three as well. Magnussen is now two-tenths ahead of Leclerc and almost half a second up on his team mate. Several drivers are encountering traffic, however.

Hamilton was held up by Tsunoda earlier but he finds a clear spot now and improves to a 1’34.565, fastest by three-tenths of a second.

The track seems to be almost up to the standard seen yesterday. Hamilton is now down to a 1’34.341, half a second off his best from the second practice session.

With 10 minutes to go, it’s a Mercedes one-two once again, but Russell is now quickest on a 1’34.218, a tenth of a second up on Hamilton. Verstappen is finally unleashing the potential of the Red Bull, he goes fastest of all in the middle sector, and jumps up from last to first with a 1’34.137.

Sainz immediately answers Verstappen by going fastest of all with a 1’33.918, then Russell puts over half a second on the Red Bull with a 1’33.570, which is the fastest time of the weekend so far.

Stroll stops on the track. It takes a moment for the yellow flags to appear, then the session is stopped with just over six minutes remaining.

Vertappen is a lot happier with his car: “I could already feel on the out-lap, much more grip.” The session will restart with one minute to go so no one is going to get a lap in but some will get to do practice starts. But how many will actually be able to leave the pits?

Almost everyone does make it out, but not Perez, despite there seemingly being enough time for him to get across the line. So he has missed his opportunity to perform a practice start.

“Mate Yuki just about rear-ended me,” reports Liam Lawson after the RB drivers get a bit too close for comfort. The chequered flag drops with Russell fastest of all, Mercedes topping all three sessions so far in Las Vegas.

Final practice is done at the Las Vegas Strip Circuit – here’s our report on the session. Join us again in just over two hours’ time for qualifying

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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