Hamilton lands Las Vegas double to spearhead British 1-2-3

Lewis Hamilton landed a Las Vegas double to offer up hope of a late-season flurry to see out his time with Mercedes.

Hamilton was almost ready to throw in the towel with the team following one of the worst weekends of his F1 career last time out in Brazil, airing a bizarre radio message at the end of the race.

But in the cool Nevada air, Hamilton and Mercedes have found form again as the seven-time F1 champion was quickest at the end of both practice sessions around the Las Vegas Strip Circuit.

Hamilton finished with a leading time of 1:33.825s, finishing 0.011s ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris, whilst George Russell was just under two-tenths of a second back in his Mercedes to form a British one-two-three.

Red Bull struggle

As for Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, a red-flag towards the end of the soft-tyre running caught them out and they were unable to post meaningful times, leaving them 17th and 19th on the timesheet.

At least for FP2 the track had been cleaned to a certain extent given the complaints in the first session about the dust and its low-grip nature.

That was underlined by the fact that after just 10 minutes of the session, Russell posted a time on medium tyres that was quicker than Hamilton's leading time from FP1 on softs.

Russell set 1:34.979s, deposing Norris from the top of the timesheet just seconds after his fellow Briton had ousted Hamilton by a third of a second.

With tyres warmed up after a cool-down lap, Russell lowered his time to 1:34.657s but even that was shortlived as Leclerc edged his rival by 0.052s, which was stretched minutes later to 0.181s as the Monégasque improved on warmer rubber.

For Red Bull, the medium-tyre running appeared uncomfortable as Verstappen and  team-mate Sergio Perez endured locking and surges into the run-off areas. They were not alone, however, as the low-grip nature of the track was proving problematic.

Just over 20 minutes in, the first of the soft-tyre runs commenced, sparked by Williams' Franco Colapinto and Aston Martin duo Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.

It was Russell, though, who lit up the timesheet with a lap of 1:34.015s, quicker than his own leading time at the end of practice a year ago, but with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz within touching distance, just 0.090s adrift.

More Williams woe

Norris then thrust himself into the conversation by dipping below 94 seconds with a time of 1:33.836s.

Russell appeared poised to again resume control after setting the leading time in the first sector and a personal best in the second, only to encounter traffic in the final sector and be held up by Stake's Valtteri Bottas.

Instead, it was Hamilton who took advantage to jump to the top with a 1:33.825s, with Norris nestling in behind him by 0.011s. Russell at least managed to get in another quick lap but found himself 0.190s down on his team-mate.

Behind the British trio were Ferrari pair Sainz and Leclerc, followed by Alpine's Pierre Gasly. Haas duo Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg were seventh and ninth, either side of Oscar Piastri in his McLaren.

RB's Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10, 1.172s adrift.

The session was a disastrous one for Williams' Alex Albon who encountered a fuel system issue that appeared repaired at one point, only for the Thai-British driver to pull over and bring out the red flags on his return to the track as he was forced to park his car.

Williams confirmed it attempted to repair the fuel system only for the problem to persist, leaving him stranded on track and finishing bottom of the timesheet with just four laps to his name.