FP3: Russell goes fastest from Verstappen and Albon during final practice in Las Vegas

George Russell set the pace during third and final practice at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver leading the way in a session that featured tricky conditions – while both McLarens ended the hour at the bottom of the timesheets.

After some disruption during Thursday’s second practice session amid two red flags for track maintenance, Friday’s final hour offered a crucial opportunity for the drivers to prepare ahead of Qualifying – and it was Oscar Piastri that was the first to venture out on intermediate tyres, the track still damp following earlier rainfall.

Amid the low grip conditions, it was a steady start to FP3 as more drivers started to head out on the green-walled Pirelli compound. There was a moment for Alex Albon, the Williams heading into the run-off area at Turn 5 before making his way back onto the track.

While some cars remained in their garages, Piastri had put himself at the top of the timesheets by the 15-minute mark – but he was soon displaced by the other McLaren of Lando Norris, the Briton setting a lap of 1m 43.078s.

Carlos Sainz, meanwhile, suggested over the radio that the time for slick tyres was getting near, but nobody had yet made the switch. Elsewhere, Yuki Tsunoda – who finished ahead of Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen in Thursday’s FP1 – was asked to box due to an issue with the car.

With just over half an hour left on the clock, Verstappen was warned that rain could be on the way in 10 minutes. Conditions certainly still appeared difficult, but championship leader Norris was the first to take a gamble by bolting on the soft tyres.

There were a few dicey moments for the Briton as he navigated the still drying track. Kimi Antonelli’s race engineer Pete Bonnington commented that “the soft tyre looks a million miles off at the moment” – but that did not seem to deter Piastri from also running the C5 rubber.

As others started to make the switch to slicks, Lewis Hamilton headed the timesheets via an effort of 1m 42.809s. It was not entirely smooth sailing for the seven-time World Champion, however, with the Ferrari racer having a close call after narrowly avoiding running into the rear of Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls at Turn 14 – an incident that was later noted by Race Control before it was decided that no further investigation was needed.

With 20 minutes remaining, four drivers – that being Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly and Nico Hulkenberg – had yet to put a lap on the board, while the times continued to rapidly tumble at the front.

The track became busy as the session entered its final segment, with all of the pack heading out on the soft tyres. Verstappen headed the board as the last 10 minutes ticked down, the Red Bull driver pumping in a 1m 35.646s.

Lawson was a surprise name to slot in at the top in the dying minutes – going just 0.009s faster than Verstappen – but that did not last long, the order again quickly evolving in the last moments. While Verstappen soon returned to P1, he was displaced by Russell, the Briton leading the way via his effort of 1m 34.054s.

Meanwhile, Verstappen – who was 0.227s off Russell’s time – voiced his frustrations about the traffic ahead after running wide, while Albon followed in third on the timesheets following a frenetic end to the session that saw more than one hairy moment.

Isack Hadjar was fourth for Racing Bulls, followed by Hamilton, Antonelli, Lawson and the Aston Martins of Stroll and Alonso, with Alpine’s Gasly completing the top 10. Ollie Bearman claimed P11 in the Haas from the Williams of Sainz, Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, the other Haas of Esteban Ocon and Charles Leclerc for Ferrari.

Franco Colapinto classified 16th in the Alpine, ahead of Hulkenberg for Kick Sauber and Tsunoda. The McLarens of Piastri and Norris, meanwhile, ended the session at the bottom of the pack in 19th and 20th respectively, both cars having seemingly experienced technical issues that left them unable to set a clean lap in the latter stages of the session.

Focus will now switch to the all-important Qualifying, which is set to get underway at 2000 local time.