George Russell was the fastest in the crazy third test in Las Vegas
It all started with the wet track, which dried out as the round progressed and the Englishman from Mercedes came away with the best.
The third practice session of the Las Vegas GP, the 22nd round of Formula 1, was completely crazy. This time the problem was not a sewer, as had happened on the first day, when 21 minutes of the session were lost due to a loose drain cover in turn 17. (they had to reinforce another 14 before the start of the second day). The activity was complicated by nature: the heavy rain that fell during the day turned the final practice session into a roulette game, right in Sin City. And the plenary session went to George Russell, the fastest.
The track formed a combo that became a hieroglyph: cold, wet and washed. Thus, when the cars were allowed to leave, they did so little by little. It was not a question of taking risks in an urban layout where the walls are centimeters away. All the brave starters went out with medium rain tires, with the idea of doing a few turns and drying the asphalt. But there was no point, it didn’t dry.
The completely different times responded to the track condition. Until Lando Norris was the first to take the risk of putting on soft slick tires. McLaren’s decision is strange because the Englishman is the one who should put himself in the least danger as he is the leader of the World Championship with three rounds to go. “Don’t take risk”they told him on the radio when he left the pits. So, why did they put those tires on it? Unusual. The Briton had to control it a couple of times to avoid losing his MCL39 and chose not to risk any more. So it was that the crazy third test left both Woking cars at the bottom. Yes, 19th and 20th.
Go ahead, lThe times were going down as the end of the session approached, when the asphalt was drier and the drivers took a little more risk. Thus, the Englishman from Mercedes clocked 1m34s054 to stay with the best, ahead of Max Verstappen (227 thousandths away). From there back, illogical time differences. Alex Albon was third, 821 thousandths behind, and Isack Hadjar was fourth, 1s115! Crazy, completely.
At the end of the session, the ballet was saved. Blocked by Gabriel Bortoleto, passing by Verstappen, Pierre Gasly spinning… A while before Lewis Hamilton almost took over Liam Lawson, Charles Leclerc was also passing, Fernando Alonso… Everything is totally crazy. And a worrying fact was floating in the air: rain was announced for a while before the classification. The track for qualifying can be colder and wet. Las Vegas roulette is getting ready, place your bets.
