Las Vegas Grand Prix FP3: Russell tops, Mercedes pace genuine?
F1 NewsSaturday, 23 November 2024 at 04:32
George Russell topped the final practice session for the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix as Mercedes seem to be the team to beat this weekend.
Mercedes' good form around the Strip continued as they have now topped all practice sessions with the true test coming soon in qualifying.
The eight-time Formula 1 constructors' champions admitted they were not sure why they are fast other than that their W15 works well in cold conditions, but they have maintained the momentum so far this weekend and are contenders for pole and even a front row lock out.
Behind the Mercs? Well it appears it is going to be a Papaya/Red affair as McLaren and Ferrari are chasing while Red Bull, with Max Verstappen appear to be a bit behind, despite some improvement in FP3.
Red Bull have made a mistake with the rear wing they've brought with them to Las Vegas which is a higher downforce configuration compared to their rivals. They are stuck with the wing and have to make do with it.
Russell was fastest, with Oscar Piastri second fastest behind him with Carlos Sainz was third in the Ferrari as Lando Norris was fourth in the other McLaren.
Verstappen was fifth fastest, having momentarily topped the timing screens, before Russell restored the order.
Lewis Hamilton was sixth fastest, but the seven-time F1 champion has more pace in hand come qualifying, since his lap came earlier in the session when grip was not at the best levels.
Williams had both cars in the top ten with Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto posting the seventh and eighth fastest times.
Kevin Magnussen and Pierre Gasly were ninth and tenth respectively. Charles Leclerc was 12th as he posted his best time earlier than others.
So we head into an interesting qualifying, with Mercedes having to prove their form is not a fluke while Ferrari and McLaren give you the feeling they have much more pace available which they can unleash in the shootout.
As for Red Bull, they have to count on some Verstappen magic to bring them into contention, but even that may not be enough...
Buildup towards FP3
After Friday's running in Las Vegas, Mercedes emerged as the team to beat, Hamilton topping both FP1 and FP2 and the Mercedes W15 came alive in the cold conditions.
The cold conditions meant it was a challenge for drivers and teams to turn on the tyres properly, which is what Red Bull and Verstappen suffered from.
While Christian Horner said the long pace is better, his team still have to find some solutions before qualifying if their Verstappen wants to have a crack at securing his fourth F1 title this weekend.
While Ferrari were tipped to be the pacesetters in Vegas, they ended up behind even McLaren as their one-lap pace was not as competitive as it was in 2023 which is normal since their SF-24 was designed with improved race pace in mind, which is working this weekend.
And while McLaren beat Ferrari on pure qualifying pace, their MCL38 was shocking in race trim according to Norris and despite being among the fastest on high fuel, which shows how tricky the track was to drive.
So with some homework done with the data collected in the first two practice sessions, what will change for FP3? Will Mercedes maintain their edge?
FP3 Session Highlights
The session started with air temperature registering 15 degrees Celsius while the track temperature was 17 degrees.
Zhou Guanyu was the first driver to head out on track once the green light was on at the end of the pitlane. Hamilton soon followed on Hard tyres. Sergio Perez was out on the Mediums as it seemed teams were scrubbing tyres for the race.
Perez soon complained about the track grip saying it was "super off" over the team radio, with Lawson agreeing to that assessment reporting: "It's very slippery."
The driver who had other stuff that poor grip to worry about was Gasly whose car was being worked on by the Alpine mechanics.
Ten minutes into the session and it was only Perez who set a lap time.
Soon Verstappen joined the action on Medium tyres, but then he locks up at Turn 1. Perez followed him out as well.
The Dutchman was the second driver to set a lap time, 0.081s slower than his teammate. He then improves on a second run and goes fastest by seven tenths.
Norris soon took to the track with Soft tyres bolted to his MCL38, Tsunoda as well on the same tyre having earlier scrubbed two sets of Hards.
VCARB as Yuki Tsunoda to heat the tyres a bit Harder by weaving. That would be the key this weekend; getting the tyres up to temperature.
25 minutes into the session and Ferrari, Williams, Haas, and Alpine did not make an appearance out on track.
At the halfway mark, Ferrari sent their drivers out on track finally as the track started to improve and times dropped with Piastri shooting to the top with a 1:35.759.
All the driver other than Red Bull were on Soft tyres as the conditions were really tricky, Verstappen even radioing: "It's getting worse - the car is undriveable."
He was soon back in the pits.
With 20 minutes remaining, Russell and Hamilton were hogging the top of the timing screens as fast laps were done by drivers on Soft tyres.
Perez and Verstappen were 19th and 20th as they were yet to set any lap on the Soft tyres and still sitting in the Red Bull garage.
With 15 minutes remaining, this was the order: Hamilton - Russell - Sainz - Magnussen - Gasly - Nico Hulkenberg - Leclerc - Albon - Esteban Ocon - Colapinto.
And soon Verstappen and Perez emerge on new Softs.
Perez went 11th fastest, the Verstappen went to the top of the pile. The first time this weekend. A great lap from the Red Bull ace given his bulky rear wing and struggles.
"Grip felt miles better, much better," Verstappen told his engineer.
But Russell then retook the lead having benefitted from a slipstream from Ocon, over half a second clear from Verstappen.
With less the seven minutes remaining, the session was Red flagged with Lance Stroll parking his Aston Martin on the side of the road.
With the Aston Martin cleared, the session was restarted with less than one minute on the clock and drivers wet out on track, except for Perez who missed the cutaway while waiting in the pitlane, the red light ending the session coming on before he could exit.
On their way back to the pits, VCARB driver almost crashed with Lawson reporting that Tsunoda almost rear-ended his car.
How they finished
Russell posted a 1:33.570 to top FP3, 0.215s clear of Piastri in second with Sainz 0.133s further down the road in third.
Norris was fourth fastest, 0.438s off the pace as Verstappen was 0.129s behind the Briton in fifth place.
Hamilton was sixth in the other Mercedes, 0.771s off the pace, not a true indicator of his actual pace so expect more from him in qualifying.
Albon was 0.837s away from the top in seventh and over three tenths faster than teammate Colapinto who was eighth.
Magnussen was 1.313s away from the best time in ninth as Gasly was 0.022s behind the Dane in tenth.
Las Vegas Grand Prix FP3 Classification
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