#F1 #LasVegasGP FP1: @LewisHamilton pips team-mate @GeorgeRussell63 by 0.396s.

Hamilton Las Vegas FP1 – Sir Lewis Hamilton pipped team-mate George Russell right at the end to head a Mercedes one-two in a dusty and cold opening FP1 session at the Las Vegas GP as title contender Lando Norris rounded out the top three for McLaren. Championship leader Max Verstappen was fifth for Red Bull.

Hamilton posted the session-topping benchmark of a 1:35.001 on the C5 red side-walled soft tyre and was 0.396 seconds quicker in a session defined by continually-improving track conditions as the Las Vegas Strip Circuit continued to rubber in as Norris was a further 0.953 seconds adrift in third as it was all-British top three in the classification.

The drivers encountered a low-grip surface to open the first 60-minute practice session, as a thin layer of dust lead RB’s Liam Lawson to remark that the track felt like driving in wet conditions.

This lead to significant track evolution in the opening half-hour of the session, with most doing their sighting tours on the C4 yellow-branded mediums. Championship leader Verstappen, who could seal his fourth title this weekend registered his first flyer on the softs, with a 1:44.239, but this was quickly beaten as MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen set a 1:42.645 on the C4’s.

Further improvements came as the track continued to rubber down as Russell posted a 1:39.595, also on mediums, but was ousted by team-mate Hamilton’s 1:38.155 effort.

Hamilton continued to fly as he set a 1:36.927, a benchmark, which withstood effort from his rival competitors on the mediums before Ferrari went faster on the C5 softs with 20 minutes left on the clock.

Charles Leclerc posted a 1:36.430 on the softs to jump to the top of the pile, although team-mate Carlos Sainz gained two tenths out of that effort to lower the benchmark.

The track evolution continued to ramp up as Norris went to the head of the times, a 1:35.954 on his own soft-tyre hot-lap, which remained unbeaten until the final five minutes of proceedings.

Russell then found a 1:35.619 effort, needing to do another warm-up lap in the cold conditions in Las Vegas, but there was room for more improvement; his team-mate Hamilton gained another two tenths to reclaim P1, before Russell shot back to the top of the pile with 0.09 seconds ahead – helped by a slip-stream from Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

But the order was not complete until Hamilton fired back with a 1:35.001 to edge 0.396 seconds in-front of his Mercedes team-mate to top the session.

Norris was a further 0.953 seconds off in third as he completed more runs on the mediums rather than joining the Mercedes pairing running the C5 softer rubber.

Leclerc improved on his earlier flying lap to take fourth in the order to finish ahead of championship leader Verstappen who was fifth and Ferrari team-mate Sainz who placed sixth.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was seventh and in-front of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri who came eighth in the classification as Alpine’s Gasly and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez completed the top ten.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Magnussen finished outside the top ten in 11^th and ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who was 12^th.

Alexander Albon took 13^th for Williams and in-front of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who placed 14^th and Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg who ended 15^th in the order.

Sauber duo Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu ended opening practice in 16^th and 18^th respectively as Williams’ Franco Colapinto sandwiched in 17^th. Bottas will be hit with a five-grid-placed-penalty for Sunday’s Grand Prix after exceeding the amount of power-unit components by using a fourth Energy Store element.

RB pairing Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2024/races/1250/las-vegas/practice/1

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