F1

Race Pace Analysis FP2 Las Vegas: Ferrari impressive, but a lot of graining!

The low grip on the track and cold temperatures lead to high degradation: Ferrari confirms its strong race pace, while Norris is left disappointed.

We’ve reached the final triple-header of the season, with both titles still up for grabs. While Max Verstappen has a firm grip on the Drivers’ Championship, holding a 62-point lead over Lando Norris, the Constructors’ Championship is more open than ever. McLaren leads the standings with a 36-point advantage over Ferrari and 49 points over Red Bull, setting the stage for a thrilling finale.

In the first practice session under the lights of Nevada, Mercedes shone brightly, with Hamilton leading the way as he looks to bounce back from a tough weekend in Brazil, followed by Russell. Behind the Silver Arrows, although nearly a second off the pace, Norris, Leclerc, and Verstappen were tightly grouped within a tenth of a second.

In the second session, Lewis Hamilton was once again the fastest, but Lando Norris closed the gap to just 11 thousandths of a second. Red Bull struggled to complete a qualifying simulation, with Verstappen finishing 17th and Perez down in 19th.

In 2023, Charles Leclerc was undoubtedly the strongest on this track, but he lost the victory due to the second Safety Car.


The Las Vegas circuit is a low-downforce track characterized by long straights and stop-and-go sections, with heavy braking and quick accelerations. The highlight is the 2-kilometer-long straight along the Strip. Given the track’s characteristics, Ferrari appears to be the favorite, as the layout is quite similar to Monza. In fact, even in 2023, the Maranello team was the one to beat, with Leclerc and Sainz locking out the front row in qualifying, although the Spanish driver had to serve a 10-place grid penalty.

Given that the race will take place at night, temperatures will be low, making it challenging to warm up the tires—an issue that has occasionally troubled Ferrari. Pirelli has brought its softest tire range (C3, C4, and C5), just as it did for last year’s inaugural event. A two-stop strategy is expected to be the baseline for the race.

The possibility of a Safety Car should not be underestimated: in 2023, the Safety Car was deployed twice—once due to an incident involving Lando Norris, and again after debris from a collision between George Russell and Max Verstappen. It was the second deployment of the Safety Car that was likely decisive for Charles Leclerc, who lost his chance for victory as a result.

Lando Norris was very disappointed after FP2: will he be able to keep the Championship fight alive at least until Qatar?

Race Pace Analysis FP2 Las Vegas: here are this morning’s times!

There is uncertainty about the number of pit stops that could be made during Sunday morning’s race. The high degradation observed during FP2 might favor a two-stops strategy, although we still need to monitor the track evolution, as it will continue to rubber in more over the course of the weekend.


The best race simulation was likely carried out by both Ferrari drivers, who followed slightly different programs. Leclerc started with very fast times but, by the end of the race simulation, had to contend with tire degradation. On the other hand, Sainz’s first laps were slightly slower, but he reached a time of 1:37.852 on his fifth lap.


The race simulation with medium tires from Red Bull was also strong, with both drivers performing well. Verstappen consistently lapped in the 1:38s before encountering traffic with Colapinto and Norris, while Perez carried out a consistent race simulation, always between 1:38 and 1:39, even in the final laps.

Race Pace Analysis FP2 Las Vegas: long run times (part 1).



The race simulation from McLaren is more difficult to interpret, as, similar to Ferrari, they followed two different programs. Piastri started off strong, setting the fastest time of this mini-simulation with a 1:37.395 on his second lap. However, his times began to rise from the fifth lap onwards, and he ended the program at 1:39, with clear signs of graining on his tires.

On the other hand, Lando Norris’ race simulation was likely “ruined” by the presence of Franco Colapinto’s Williams. Despite this, the British driver, who also struggled on this track in 2023, appeared very disappointed when speaking to Sky Sport after the session: “I think we were pretty good with low fuel, but with high fuel it was shocking. We had a lot of graining, and things didn’t go well; I struggled quite a bit. I’d say it was a session split in half: good in qualifying simulation, bad in race simulation.”


The race pace of Mercedes was also strong, making them a surprise of Friday’s practice sessions. In particular, George Russell’s race simulation was the longest of all, and he managed to complete it with two laps under 1:39.

Race Pace Analysis FP2 Las Vegas: long run times (part 2).

PHOTO: Scuderia Ferrari HP, Mclaren F1, GPKingdom.

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