Lando Norris leads practice in Las Vegas, marked by incidents
Lando Norris stood out in the second practice session in Las Vegas, which was interrupted for 19 minutes due to a loose manhole cover.
Norris, who leads the championship with a 24-point advantage before the final three races of the season, beat Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli by 0.029 seconds on the circuit.
Max Verstappen, 49 points behind in the fight for the title, finished in ninth place, while Norris’ teammate at McLaren, Oscar Piastri, placed 14th.
The second night session was stopped twice due to reports of a loose manhole cover at Turn 17, the last on the circuit. These interruptions recalled the previous event, two years ago, when a manhole cover came loose and damaged Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari at 200 mph.
The session, which lasted an hour, was initially stopped at 8:38 p.m. local time. The FIA issued a statement that said: “Following a steward’s report regarding a possible loose manhole cover before Turn 17, race control was unable to confirm this information with the available closed-circuit television.”
“The session has been red-flagged as a precautionary measure and race control personnel are currently on site assessing the situation.”
After a 16-minute delay, the pit lane reopened for the final six minutes, and the FIA stated they were “confident” that everything was in order. However, the cars were only on the street circuit for three minutes before another red flag was deployed.
A second FIA statement said: “Some race control personnel remained on site when the session restarted. They reported that the manhole cover was moving as the cars passed, which led to the session being stopped under red flag conditions. Further inspections are being carried out.”The race in Las Vegas is the only one on the calendar promoted by the American owners of F1, Liberty Media. The international television broadcast, controlled by F1, did not show the affected part of the track during any of the interruptions.
Interruptions contributed to a distorted timesheet, with several prominent drivers unable to set a representative lap time on the fastest soft tire compound.
The season is reaching its climax in Las Vegas, with only races to go in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
McLaren has largely been the class of the field this year, but the street circuit on the Strip has not been a place that has suited their machinery in the previous two races held in Nevada.
In the first session of the weekend, Norris went off twice at Turn 12 in two fast laps and finished only sixth. But the Englishman, who is looking to win his first world championship, will be encouraged by his speed in the interrupted final session of the day.
