2025 Las Vegas GP FP1: Leclerc Tops First Practice

Charles Leclerc launched the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend in style, topping the timesheets in a busy and cool-opening Free Practice 1 session that immediately set the tone for a high-stakes weekend in the Championship. The Ferrari driver delivered a precise and confident lap of 1m 34.802s, placing himself 0.166s ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon, with Yuki Tsunoda continuing Red Bull’s upward trajectory by finishing third, just 0.269s back. While Leclerc looked instantly at one with the 3.85-mile Strip Circuit, McLaren’s title-contending pair—Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri—never threatened the top of the timing tower, raising early questions for the championship leaders as the desert weekend unfolds.

All 20 drivers wasted no time taking to the circuit within the first 10 minutes, confronting a typically tricky Vegas FP1 surface: cold, dusty, but dry. Small but telling slides from Lewis Hamilton and Ollie Bearman showed the low grip early on, while Norris and Pierre Gasly flirted with the limits a little too much, briefly taking to the run-off at Turns 7 and 12.

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Up front, Leclerc and Max Verstappen were the initial pace-setters, with the Ferrari man breaking into the 1m 35.9s range on mediums around the 20-minute mark before Verstappen nipped underneath that benchmark by less than two-tenths. As teams shifted to the soft tyres, Hamilton was first among the frontrunners to bolt on the red-walled compound, logging a 1m 35.561s, but his effort was quickly dispatched by his in-form teammate.

From there, the lap times tightened dramatically. Tsunoda, Fernando Alonso, and Piastri all pushed the limits—sometimes beyond them—as more drivers ran wide at Turns 7 and 12, the battle for track space becoming increasingly intense. Verstappen and Leclerc traded blows at the top, the Dutchman briefly going fastest with a 1m 35.109s, a mere 0.004s ahead of Leclerc’s response, before Tsunoda sensationally jumped to P1 with just 15 minutes left. Yet Norris—who had already survived an early brush with the wall at Turn 9—continued to struggle, running deep at Turn 12 twice in quick succession in what became a difficult and unrepresentative start for the championship leader.

When the track reached its best window, Leclerc delivered the lap that mattered: a clean, commanding 1m 34.802s, the first sub-1m35s of the day, securing P1 as the chequered flag fell. Albon’s late-session lock-up into Turn 12 didn’t prevent him from holding onto second, while Tsunoda slotted in ahead of Verstappen by less than a tenth. Williams’ Carlos Sainz rounded out the top five, finishing ahead of both McLarens, split by Isack Hadjar’s Racing Bulls machine. Last year’s Vegas winner George Russell took ninth, just ahead of Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli, while Hamilton wound up 11th, seven-tenths down on Leclerc.

Gasly led the midfield pack for Alpine, followed by the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and the Aston Martins of Alonso and Lance Stroll. The Haas pair of Bearman and Esteban Ocon, the Kick Saubers of Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto completed the order in what proved to be a fully uninterrupted and incident-free session—rare for Vegas FP1.

The field will be back under the lights later today for Free Practice 2, a far more representative session that should offer clearer answers about long-run pace, tyre behaviour, and who truly holds the upper hand heading into Saturday night.

2025 Las Vegas GP FP1 Results

2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix FP1, 20 November 2025