F1 | FP3 | Las Vegas GP | Russell leads Verstappen in rain-affected session; McLarens slowest

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Final practice for the 2025 F1 Las Vegas GP is complete, and you can view the full report and results for FP3 below.

With a track temperature of 14°C, and a cloudy sky, the final session before qualifying started in tricky, damp conditions in Las Vegas.

Exploratory laps on intermediates at the F1 Las Vegas GP

First car out in the circuit was Oscar Piastri, who ventured out for an exploratory lap on the intermediate tyres, followed by Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari and Ollie Bearman’s Haas, both also on the green-walled tyres.

Piastri quickly reported over the radio that the track was “too wet for slicks”. He went on to set the first lap time of the session, with a 1:47.162 on intermediates. The Australian reported his tyres were “starting to die” after just a single lap.

Several drivers followed suit soon after, going out on the intermediates, with a flurry of laps ending with Hamilton on top at the 10-minute mark, with a 1:45.758, ahead of Verstappen, Piastri, Norris, Ocon and Tsunoda of those who had set times.

Alex Albon had a brief off at turn five, locking up and going straight on, before getting back on the circuit without major issues.

Carlos Sainz was the first to report over the radio that the circuit was “almost ready” for slick tyres, as the session neared its one-quarter mark.

Liam Lawson had a bit of carbon fibre dislodged from the back of his Racing Bulls, but managed to keep going and set a competitive lap soon after.

Tsunoda hits trouble with a slow puncture

With 20 minutes of running, 13 cars had set a competitive time, with Norris leading Hamilton, Piastri, Verstappen and Lawson in the top five. Hadjar, Leclerc, Russell, Albon and Tsunoda rounded out the top 10 at that stage.

The latter suffered some kind of mechanical issue in his Red Bull, as he was urgently called to box with 39 minutes of the session remaining.

Lewis Hamilton further improved his time to a 1:42.809, taking him nearly three tenths clear of Norris’ earlier benchmark.

With 25 minutes of the session gone, Red Bull advised Verstappen over the radio that there may be more rain in around 10 minutes.

It was confirmed that Tsunoda’s issues were related to a slow tyre puncture.

Norris first out on slicks

The championship leader was the first to take a chance on the slick tyres, heading out on a set of C4 soft tyres as the session neared its halfway mark. He was duly told by his McLaren team to take “zero risk”.

His first lap featured some scarily close moments with the barrier, especially at turn 2. He finished several seconds off the pace. The second lap went no better, as he had an off at turn 7 and had to cut across the escape road.

Although the experiment didn’t go to plan at first, several others followed suit, including his team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri, the two Ferraris, Max Verstappen and many others going out on soft tyres, but failing to find any significant improvements.

Piastri had a similar scare to Norris at turn 2, correcting a loose back-end on his McLaren several times at the left-hander that was still damp.

Hamilton encounters heavy traffic in what was an almost session-ending crash

Hamilton was on course to be the first driver to find significant improvements in the slick tyres, but he encountered several slow cars heading into turn 14 chicane. The seven-time champion had to use cat-like reactions to avoid having an airplane crash with Lawson’s Racing Bulls.

His team-mate Leclerc did find an improvement, setting a 1:41.867 on the soft tyres, followed closely by both Red Bulls, with Tsunoda initially ahead of Verstappen, before the Dutchman absolutely blitzed the field with a 1:39.156, going almost a full two seconds clear of next best rival, Liam Lawson.

Tsunoda then replied by briefly going ahead of Verstappen, before Leclerc further improved to set a 1:38.251, over six tenths quicker than the Japanese.

Hamilton went back on top shortly, setting a 1:37.315 to go nearly a second quicker than his team-mate – but that didn’t last long, as Verstappen once again bettered the field by nearly half-a-second in the ever-improving circuit conditions.

Charles Leclerc swiftly took the top spot again, setting a 1:36.469, before Hamilton usurped him by setting a 1:36.284 to go fastest with just under 15 minutes of the session remaining.

Verstappen back on top, Piastri makes a mistake in first proper lap

The Dutchman regained his position at the top of the timings with just under 12 minutes remaining, going six tenths clear of Hamilton’s Ferrari by setting a 1:35.646.

Oscar Piastri, on the other hand, struggled his way through his first lap on the soft tyres, as he locked up at turn 14 and finished the lap a lowly 18th place, over 4.5s off Verstappen’s pace.

Norris, on the other hand, managed a much better lap to go quickest overall through the middle sector before aborting into the pit lane with just under 8 minutes remaining of the session.

The final rush to get a good lap

With 5 minutes of the session remaining, the order of the top 10 was: Verstappen, Russell, Leclerc, Hamilton, Antonelli, Hadjar, Hulkenberg, Tsunoda, Albon and Bortoleto.

But that was all about to change swiftly, as firstly Liam Lawson went fastest overall, with a 1:35.637 leaving him 0.009s clear of Verstappen’s earlier time.

Gabriel Bortoleto put an impressive marker down to go fourth quickest in his Sauber.

A flurry of laps followed soon after, which saw Verstappen retake his top spot comfortably, with a lap of a 1:34.281 to go quickest by nearly six tenths from Albon’s Williams. Russell, Hamilton, Antonelli, Lawson, Stroll, Alonso, Gasly and Bearman completed the top 10 as the session reached its dying moments.

Bortoleto had a lock up at turn 14, but managed to keep going.

Russell went fastest overall as the chequered flag fell, setting a 1:34.054 to usurp Verstappen at the top, as the Dutchman couldn’t respond after locking up into turn 13. Alonso and Gasly also had lock ups at the same time.

McLaren ends up slowest in FP3 for the Las Vegas GP

The rain started to fall just after the chequered flag, and the final order saw George Russell take the top spot at the race he won 12 months ago, ahead of Verstappen and an impressive outing from Alex Albon’s Williams in P3.

The major surprise of the session proved to be the McLaren, which struggled throughout most of the session in the ever-changing conditions, and didn’t set a competitive time at the business end of the session, leaving Piastri and Norris 19th and 20th respectively.

Piastri suffered from telemetry issues in his car, whilst Norris had to be pulled over with a suspected electrical issue in his MCL39.