Free Practice 2 of the 2025 Las Vegas GP ended in dramatic fashion, with red flags, lifted manhole covers (as every season), and a long interruption that made the last 20 minutes of the session unrepresentative. Lando Norris topped the timesheet with 1:33.602, set before the final chaos, while Charles Leclerc was slowed by a gearbox issue.
2025 Formula 1 Las Vegas GP Free Practice 2 Timing Results
| DRIVER | TEAM | TIME | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:33.602 |
| 2 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | +0.029 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Scuderia Ferrari | +0.161 |
| 4 | Nico Hulkenberg | Kick Sauber | +0.277 |
| 5 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | +0.291 |
| 6 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | +0.299 |
| 7 | George Russell | Mercedes | +0.435 |
| 8 | Alexander Albon | Williams | +0.465 |
| 9 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +0.503 |
| 10 | Lewis Hamilton | Scuderia Ferrari | +0.525 |
| 11 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | +0.589 |
| 12 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | +0.771 |
| 13 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | +0.833 |
| 14 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +0.891 |
| 15 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull | +1.090 |
| 16 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | +1.222 |
| 17 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | +1.384 |
| 18 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | +1.410 |
| 19 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | +1.626 |
| 20 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Kick Sauber | +1.897 |
F1 Las Vegas GP, Free Practice 2 Results
The session started at 5:00 AM Italian time with the green light, but the first minutes were quiet: no one immediately went out on track, despite the track being judged dry enough despite the light rain that fell earlier. Pierre Gasly was the first to venture out, followed by the two Mercedes of Russell and Antonelli, all on new Medium tires.
Times started to drop progressively and Lewis Hamilton took the lead with 1:36.145, but moments later George Russell did even better, dropping to 1:35.066. As minutes passed, all drivers took to the track and Lando Norris set the first time under 1:34 with 1:33.943, beating Hamilton by 184 thousandths.
Leclerc also showed his pace, moving to the front with 1:33.763, but the middle phase was marked by several errors: Oliver Bearman locked up heavily braking into turn 12, quickly followed by Norris, who had already made similar mistakes in FP1. Meanwhile, all teams had fitted new Soft tires for the traditional mid-session qualifying simulation.
However, action was suddenly halted at 5:39: red flag with no immediate explanation, with cars still moving on track. Initially thought to be debris or barrier damage, but minutes later the first indications came: Alpine reported that a manhole cover had lifted, as later confirmed by Williams on social media.
The FIA later officially explained that marshals had noticed a possible manhole cover failure before Turn 17 and, unable to verify it immediately with cameras, Race Control interrupted the session for safety reasons. The track was then manually inspected.
At 5:51, at least some good news arrived: the session wouldn’t be cancelled, unlike in 2023, but would resume with the final six minutes of timed running. At 5:54, the light turned green and almost all cars lined up in the pit lane to use every remaining second.
However, after just one lap, another red flag: this time Charles Leclerc was stopped by a gearbox issue, running wide at Turn 5 and parking beyond the barriers. Fortunately, since this was a power unit typically used for late-season Fridays, the Monégasque driver didn’t lose real mileage compared to his rivals, as almost no one could run.
The checkered flag came at 6:00, ending a session heavily affected by interruptions and track inspections.
Lando Norris maintained the best performance ahead of Leclerc and Hadjar, but the overall assessment was more technical than chronometric: very few race simulations, many aborted laps, and a track that showed structural issues, just like two years ago.
It remains to be seen whether the FIA will need to make further interventions on the circuit ahead of the weekend’s upcoming sessions.