F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix 2025: Free Practice 3 Results Have McLaren On The Back Foot

George Russell went fastest for Mercedes in a peculiar final practice for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Conditions dictated running and when the track evolved to its peak, it was the Briton who posted the benchmark time of a 1:34.054s, with the field spread by three seconds.

Max Verstappen and Alex Albon were third and, with rain falling again just after the checkered flag, qualifying is set to be a blockbuster.

George Russell, Mercedes — Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images

Rain pre-session left the track damp enough to force the McLarens onto intermediates, but with Oscar Piastri complaining of excessive degradation after just one lap, it was clear it was not wet enough for the grooved tires.

The Australian told his team "I'd be nervous to go on slicks" in the first five minutes, with others leaving the pits on the green-walled intermediates.

The issue faced is that, unlike at a typical F1 weekend, the temperatures are so low at this event that the circuit doesn't dry itself as fast, leaving a greasy top layer to the surface.

It was the last thing teams and drivers needed ahead of qualifying and the race given a lack of representative running on Friday with a green, dusty track in FP1 and a 20-minute red-flag at the end of FP2 for track maintenance.

Just 13 cars set a time in the opening third of the hour - one of those damaged in the act of doing so as Liam Lawson lost some carbon fibre from his Racing Bull on the run to Turn 5, seemingly without hitting anything.

Red Bull were forced to call Yuki Tsunoda into the pits with an apparent issue after 20 minutes, the Japanese driver changing his set-up having returned to the garage with what was confirmed as a slow puncture.

A set of soft tyres has been fitted to Lando Norris' McLaren... 👀

Lando's race engineer reminds him to take "zero risk" on the slicks, but he's pushing! 🫢#F1 #LasVegasGP pic.twitter.com/Vmz3u33oU6
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 22, 2025

The first driver onto the soft tires with 31 minutes on the clock was championship leader Lando Norris, who was given a "zero risk" instruction. A huge snap on the exit of Turn 2 threatened to put him in the wall, demonstrating how difficult the conditions were — he was 2.8s down on the best first sector.

Despite his struggles, both Ferraris, Piastri, Tsunoda and the Racing Bulls all went out on the red-walled slicks to brave the greasy track surface.

With further cars joining the circuit and slowly building up the tires, Hamilton narrowly avoided contact with Lawson as a queue formed at Turn 14, the tight left-hander at the end of the 1.9km blast down the Strip.

That was a CLOSE ONE! 😱

Lewis Hamilton almost gets caught out by the slowing Liam Lawson in front! 👀#F1 #LasVegasGP pic.twitter.com/JJNlEsRjT6
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 22, 2025

After 10 minutes of soft tire running, lap times finally started to come to drivers, and after times were traded as the track evolved, it was Russell who ended on top, though Verstappen was unable to finish his best lap after going off at Turn 12.

Albon was third ahead of Isack Hadjar and Hamilton, with Kimi Antonelli sixth.

Lawson ended seventh fastest ahead of Aston Martin duo Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, with Pierre Gasly 10th.

McLaren were forced to pit both drivers in the final 10 minutes as the track surface hit its peak grip in the hour, with a loss of telemetry confining Norris and Piastri to the garage.

F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix 2025: FP3 results

Position / Driver / Team	Gap [s]
1. George Russell / Mercedes	1:34.054
2. Max Verstappen / Red Bull	+0.227
3. Alex Albon / Williams	+0.821
4. Isack Hadjar / Racing Bulls	+1.115
5. Lewis Hamilton / Ferrari	+1.215
6. Kimi Antonelli / Mercedes	+1.331
7. Liam Lawson / Racing Bulls	+1.385
8. Lance Stroll / Aston Martin	+1.479
9. Fernando Alonso / Aston Martin	+1.486
10. Pierre Gasly / Alpine	+1.508
11. Oliver Bearman / Haas	+1.532
12. Carlos Sainz / Williams	+1.608
13. Gabriel Bortoleto / Sauber	+1.684
14. Esteban Ocon / Haas	+1.763
15. Charles Leclerc / Ferrari	+1.854
16. Franco Colapinto / Alpine	+2.251
17. Nico Hulkenberg / Sauber	+2.596
18. Yuki Tsunoda / Red Bull	+2.613
19. Oscar Piastri / McLaren	+2.969
20. Lando Norris / McLaren	+3.058

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