2025 Las Vegas GP FP2: Norris Ahead Despite Red Flags

Lando Norris hit back under the Las Vegas lights to top a disrupted FP2 session, putting his McLaren on top with a 1m 33.602s as preparations intensified for the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix. The championship leader—arriving this weekend with a 24-point advantage in the Championship—edged out Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli by just 0.029s, while Charles Leclerc took third for Ferrari despite suffering a late-session gearbox issue that forced him to pull off track. Two red flags for urgent track maintenance restricted running in the final third of the session, leaving several drivers scrambling for clean laps and others unable to complete qualifying simulations.

A light shower between FP1 and FP2 added an early layer of unpredictability, leaving the surface cold, slightly damp, and slippery as the session got underway. Teams initially hesitated to commit to running, with nearly five minutes passing before the first laps were logged.

Formula One History Recommends

• 

  2025 Las Vegas GP FP1: Leclerc Tops First Practice

• 

  2025 Las Vegas GP FP3: Russell goes fastest Ahead of Verstappen 

• 

  2025 Las Vegas GP Qualifying: Norris Snatches pole from Verstappen

• 

  2025 Las Vegas Prix: F1 Race, Qualifying & Winners

Drivers ventured out on slicks, but grip was scarce; Ollie Bearman radioed that the track felt “slippery everywhere,” and early lap times ran several seconds slower than the FP1 benchmark. As conditions gradually improved, Lewis Hamilton set the first representative time—a 1m 35.338s—surviving a close brush with Nico Hülkenberg down the back straight into Turn 14. McLaren, subdued in FP1, finally showed their hand, with Norris and Oscar Piastri briefly jumping to the top before George Russell delivered a 1m 34.430s on mediums, at that point the quickest lap of the entire day.

From there, the session swung into qualifying-mode intensity. Norris dipped below the 1m 34s barrier with a 1m 33.943s, though a big lock-up at Turn 14 cost him momentum before Leclerc reset the benchmark at 1m 33.763s. As teams bolted on fresh softs for their late-session simulations, the times tumbled again: Antonelli shot to P1, only for Norris to reclaim it moments later with the session-topping 1m 33.602s. But with just over 20 minutes left, a red flag halted running for track repairs. The session resumed briefly, igniting a frantic pit-lane scramble, but drama struck again when Leclerc was ordered not to shift gears due to a mechanical problem—his Ferrari coasting to a halt before a second red flag ended the session prematurely.

The final classification left Norris narrowly ahead of Antonelli, with Leclerc third on a medium-tyre time. Hülkenberg impressed in fourth, followed by the Racing Bulls duo of Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar, both benefitting from clean soft-tyre laps. Russell, Alex Albon, Max Verstappen, and Hamilton rounded out the top 10, with Albon the only one of that group to set his quickest lap on softs. Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly, and Carlos Sainz followed, ahead of an out-of-position Piastri, who never completed a soft-tyre run due to the red-flag interruptions. Yuki Tsunoda, Franco Colapinto, Bearman, Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon, and Gabriel Bortoleto completed the order in a truncated session that leaves long-run pace and qualifying hierarchy still wide open heading into Saturday.

2025 Las Vegas GP FP2 Results

2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix FP2, 20 November 2025