F1 Las Vegas GP: Leclerc fastest in dusty opening practice

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc has led opening practice for Formula 1's Las Vegas Grand Prix, besting Alex Albon and the two Red Bulls.

Leclerc's soft-tyre run pf 1m34.802s in the final 15 minutes of the one-hour session was enough to hold off Williams Alex Albon, with Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda making a rare appearance in front of team-mate Max Verstappen, while the McLaren pair occupied sixth and seventh.

With the Las Vegas schedule being brought forward by two hours in its third year, the first of three practice sessions started just after sunset around the gambling paradise's famous Strip.

Given the 6.2km street circuit is only used once a year, the session got off to a slow start as drivers battled with extremely low grip, using low downforce set-ups that further made their cars tricky to drive.

Pierre Gasly and Gabriel Bortoleto were among the drivers going too into the run-off area early on, while world champion Verstappen led the early running which was largely completed on medium tyres across the board.

After a mid-session lull Ferrari duo Lewis Hamilton and then Leclerc used Pirelli's softer C5 compound to climb to the first two spots, with the latter leading by virtue of a 1m35.121s.

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images via Getty Images

Verstappen managed to go marginally quicker 1m35.109s before Leclerc reclaimed top spot with a 1m34.802s, dipping below last year's leading FP1 time.

Albon was a surprise second for Williams, 0.166s in arrears, with Tsunoda a strong third for Red Bull ahead of Verstappen.

Carlos Sainz completed a strong session for Williams in fifth, while Lando Norris recovered from two off-track excursions at Turn 12 to take sixth ahead of Isack Hadjar and title rival Oscar Piastri.

McLaren's low-key session further underlined pre-event expectations that McLaren may well struggle to compete for victory this weekend on a circuit that doesn't reward its strengths.

Behind Piastri, George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli pushed Hamilton outside the top 10 in ninth and 10th, the Mercedes duo not showing its true hand on a track that should suit the squad's cars.

F1 Las Vegas GP - FP1 results

FP1

All Stats

 

Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	29	1'34.802		S	235.476
2	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	23	+0.166 1'34.968	0.166	S	235.064
3	Y. Tsunoda Red Bull Racing	22		Red Bull	Red Bull	27	+0.269 1'35.071	0.103	S	234.809
4	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	24	+0.307 1'35.109	0.038	S	234.715
5	C. Sainz Williams	55		Williams	Mercedes	31	+0.377 1'35.179	0.070	S	234.543
6	L. Norris McLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	25	+0.456 1'35.258	0.079	S	234.348
7	I. Hadjar RB	6		RB	Honda	30	+0.497 1'35.299	0.041	S	234.247
8	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	27	+0.648 1'35.450	0.151	S	233.877
9	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	25	+0.732 1'35.534	0.084	S	233.671
10	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12		Mercedes	Mercedes	30	+0.736 1'35.538	0.004	S	233.661
11	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44		Ferrari	Ferrari	26	+0.759 1'35.561	0.023	S	233.605
12	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Renault	26	+0.787 1'35.589	0.028	S	233.537
13	L. Lawson RB	30		RB	Honda	28	+0.907 1'35.709	0.120	S	233.244
14	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	23	+0.944 1'35.746	0.037	S	233.154
15	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	25	+1.092 1'35.894	0.148	S	232.794
16	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87		Haas	Ferrari	28	+1.188 1'35.990	0.096	S	232.561
17	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31		Haas	Ferrari	30	+1.321 1'36.123	0.133	S	232.239
18	N. Hulkenberg Sauber	27		Sauber	Ferrari	25	+1.368 1'36.170	0.047	S	232.126
19	G. Bortoleto Sauber	5		Sauber	Ferrari	25	+1.596 1'36.398	0.228	S	231.577
20	F. Colapinto Alpine	43		Alpine	Renault	28	+1.956 1'36.758	0.360	S	230.715
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