F1 News: Russell tops red-flag shortened Practice 3 in Las Vegas

Williams driver Alex Albon clouted the wall with 6 minutes left in FP3 for the Las Vegas GP and no one had a chance to topple George Russell from the #1 spot.

–Mark Cipolloni–

With the track getting faster with every passing lap as the track rubbers in, George Russell put his Mercedes on top with a lap of 1m34.093s just before Alex Albon slapped the wall with his left side, breaking his suspension.

Other drivers were ready to knock Russell from the top, but the red flag flew for Albon and the session was not restarted.

Oscar Piastri was 2nd fastest for McLaren, 0.398s back.

American rookie Logan Sargeant was third fastest in the #2 Williams, 0.552s behind.

The Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez rounded out the top-5, 0.560s and 0.613s behind respectively.

And the result is a very mixed up timing sheet. Red Bull looked quick, but as for the rest it is hard to say. Russell impressed, as did Piastri and Sargeant.

Norris didn’t get a clean lap in, Hamilton seemed to struggle and Ferrari didn’t get full flying laps in on the softs, the red flag costing them at the end of their second warm up laps.

So, looking ahead to qualifying – Las Vegas GP track evolution and the tow are both going to be talking points. The drivers will want to be out as physically late as possible in Q3 later on, and they definitely won’t want to punch a hole through the air for the others.

In FP3, we saw the tow earn Russell at least a couple of tenths when he managed to pick one up midway through the session.

Qualifying begins at midnight local time, which is 08:00 UTC on Saturday morning. It’s going to be incredibly exciting, the possibility of red flags is high, the track evolution could be incredible and sparks are going to fly. But who is going to grab pole?

Las Vegas GP Practice 3 Results