#F1 #LasVegasGP #FP1: @CharlesLeclerc quickest ahead of #Albon, #Tsunoda.

Leclerc Las Vegas FP1 – Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc ended the opening practice session at the Las Vegas GP on top of the time-sheets ahead of Williams’ Alexander Albon as Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda completed the top three. Championship leader Lando Norris was down in sixth for McLaren.

Leclerc posted the session-topping benchmark on the C5 red-marked softer compounds with a 1:34.802 to be 0.166 seconds clear of Albon whilst Tsunoda was a further 0.269 seconds adrift of the Ferrari driver in third.

Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar was the first to emerge and lead the pack out on the C4 yellow-marked medium tyres.

The Frenchman was the first to register the benchmark of a 1:46.062 which was quickly beaten by Haas’s Oliver Bearman’s 1:45.949 and this was ousted by Leclerc’s 1:41.328 then was beaten by Wiliams’ Carlos Sainz’s 1:41.164 to be 0.164 clear of the Ferrari driver at the top.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly then went quickest on a 1:41.000 to be 0.164 ahead of Sainz as Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda slotted into third, but Leclerc returned to the top on a 1:39.733 to end up 1.133 seconds in-front of Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli who set a 1:40.866 flyer.

Hadjar went back to the head of the times setting a 1:39.415 to be 0.318 seconds quicker than Leclerc at the eighth minute mark as Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg went to third and 0.643 seconds adrift of the RB driver.

Sainz then went fastest on a 1:39.355 to end up a slim 0.060 seconds clear as championship leader Norris put his McLaren fourth and 1.169 seconds off Hadjar’s best time as the Frenchman snatched P1 back setting a 1:38.753 after a solid sector three effort.

Tsunoda put his RB21 entry second and 0.121 off Hadjar’s benchmark as Leclerc went back on top posting a 1:38.114 to be 0.164 clear of Norris who jumped to second and Piastri who was third and 0.572 seconds adrift of Leclerc.

Hulkenberg split the McLaren duo as Gasly went up to P1 on a 1:37.990 to be 0.078 seconds clear of Tsunoda who improved to second.

This was short-lived as team-mate Verstappen split Gasly and Tsunoda in second place as Sainz went quickest once more on a 1:37.588 to be 0.034 clear of Hadjar.

Leclerc was next with a best sector one time and went fastest with a 1:37.407 to end up 0.181 seconds in-front of former team-mate Sainz.

Sauber’s Hulkenberg sent Leclerc down to second with his 1:37.370 on his stint on the C3 white-marked harder compound.

Tsunoda then demoted the German down to second, but his team-mate Verstappen then went quickest on a 1:36.493 as Sainz slotted into second and was 0.037 seconds off the Dutchman.

Norris went third overall to end up 0.265 seconds adrift of Verstappen as Hamilton put his Ferrari fifth in the order 0.723 seconds off.

Leclerc was next to go up into third and 0.116 seconds off Verstappen’s benchmark as the season reached the 18^th-minute mark of proceedings.

Tsunoda ended up fifth on his next flyer and ended up 0.824 seconds off Verstappen’s benchmark as the reigning world champion improved to a 1:36.043 as the head of the time-sheets.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll placed his AMR25 entry in fourth and 0.560 after Hamilton demoted the Canadian down.

Leclerc then jumped to the top on 1:35.954 to end up 0.089 seconds faster than Verstappen at the 21^st minute mark.

Piastri with three personal bests went fifth in the classification to be 0.296 seconds off Leclerc’s best time.

Tsunoda’s 12^th tour on the mediums brought the Red Bull driver to eighth setting a 1:36.320 as his team-mate Verstappen jumped back to the P1 slot posting a 1:35.776 to be 0.178 clear of Leclerc.

Sainz with a personal best and purple middle sector improved to third with his 1:36.146 to end up 0.370 off Verstappen’s benchmark.

Replays showed championship leader Norris had a brush with the wall as Russell with three personal bests moved up into third to be 0.307 seconds off Verstappen’s best effort.

The majority of the field began returning to their respective garages from the 25^th minute mark of the session to adjust their setups before going out again for another run.

Tsunoda with a personal best in sectors one and three went fourth in the classification setting a 1:36.090 on his 15^th lap on the yellow-marked tyre.

Hulkenberg led the pack out on the C5 red side-walled softer rubber but did not improve as he was on a slow lap whilst Hamilton on his flying tour on the softs with two purples in sectors one and two and a purple final sector went fastest on a 1:35.561 to be 0.215 seconds clear of Verstappen with 27 minutes remaining on the clock.

Hulkenberg on his flyer went to tenth and ended up 0.833 off Hamilton as Leclerc topped the time-sheets with a 1:35.281 and ended up 0.280 seconds clear of his Ferrari team-mate as Russell slotted his F1 W16 entry into third overall and 0.418 seconds adrift of Leclerc’s best time.

Stroll’s third lap on the softs put him outside the top ten in 11^th with his 1:36.405 to end up 1.124 off Leclerc’s time-topping effort as most of the field ran the C5’s.

Gasly with two personal bests went to third in the order setting a 1:35.859 as Leclerc with a purple sector three went even quicker posting a 1:35.121 to go 0.413 seconds clear of Russell as the Mercedes driver split the Ferrari duo in second.

Russell’s team-mate Antonelli went to fourth and 0.447 seconds off Leclerc’s best effort as Stroll with two personal bests jumped to seventh in the order to be 0.773 seconds adrift.

Verstappen with two purples went fastest once more on a 1:35.109 as he relegated Leclerc to second and the Monegasque driver was a narrow 0.004 seconds off the Red Bull driver.

Replays showed Hamilton suffer a front-left lock-up into turn 12 – but the Briton managed to turn his SF-25 entry around and continue on.

Tsunoda then put his RB21 entry up to the top on a 1:35.071 to go 0.038 seconds clear of team-mate Verstappen whilst Leclerc was a further 0.042 seconds adrift as the top three were covered under 0.045 seconds.

Leclerc then reclaimed P1 with a 1:34.802 to go 0.269 seconds clear of Tsunoda as replays showed Norris also run off at turn 12 after being off-putted by a slow-travelling Tsunoda.

Norris on his flyer once again went off at turn 12, but the championship leader continued on once more.

Albon with three personal bests went second overall to be 0.166 seconds off Leclerc with less than ten minutes left on the clock.

Hadjar then went to tenth with three personal bests to be 1.163 seconds off as Norris jumped to sixth to end up 0.456 seconds off Leclerc’s best time.

Sainz moved up into fifth to demote the two McLaren’s with his best time of a 1:35.179.

Piastri improved his time but remained in seventh behind team-mate Norris with his 1:35.450 as Bearman as replays showed the Hass driver run off at turn 12.

The drivers all had a mix of the softs, mediums and hards as they continued to work on their race setups with track conditions representative to Saturday’s Grand Prix.

Albon on his flyer suffered a massive lock-up with his front-left into turn 12 bringing out the yellow flag – with the Thai-Briton driver putting his FW47 racer into reverse and getting out of the run-off area and continued on as the session ended.

Free Practice 1 ended with Leclerc fastest ahead of Albon and Tsunoda who rounded out the top three.

Reigning world champion Verstappen was fourth and in-front of Sainz who placed fifth and championship leader Norris who took sixth.

RB’s Hadjar placed seventh overall and ahead of Piastri who came eighth in the classification as Mercedes pairing Russell and Antonelli completed the top ten runners.

You can see the full Formula 1 Heineken Las Vegas Grand Prix 2025 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: FORMULA 1 HEINEKEN LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX 2025 – PRACTICE 1

#F1 @Heineken #LasVegasGP 2025 Preview. #Formula1 #LasVegasGrandPrix

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