Max P17 after Friday practice in Las Vegas: 'Like driving on ice'

Published on 22 November 2024 by Stefan Meens

After a fifth place in FP1, Max Verstappen was only seventeenth fastest in the second practice session of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was quickest ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris. George Russell was third, making it two Mercs in the top three.

“It was slippery. We really struggled to switch the tyres on, especially over one lap”, explained the Oracle Red Bull Racing driver. “On the long runs we were a bit more competitive, but we still need to do some fine tuning.”

The championship leader added: “We’re far off the one-lap pace because of the unique conditions here, but it’s the same for everyone. We have to learn what we’re doing wrong. It’s like driving on ice.”

At the start of the session, all teams send their drivers out on track to gain as much track time as possible as the Las Vegas circuit poses cold – and therefor challenging - conditions.

“I have no grip”, Max reports to the team after understeering at turn five. He is one of several drivers to have minor excursions due to the tricky conditions.

Twenty minutes into the session, the soft Pirelli tyres make their first appearance resulting in the lap times continuing to drop. At the halfway mark, Max also switches to the red side-walled compound. The Dutchman aborts his first effort after understeering off the racing line.

Max then has to wait for his second attempt after the session is briefly red-flagged; the Williams of Alex Albon has ground to a halt with technical issues and needs to be retrieved.

With fifteen minutes to, Max heads back out but he does so on the medium tyres with more fuel in his RB20, meaning the Dutchman remains in seventeenth, two places ahead of team mate Sergio Perez.

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Results second free practice Las-vegas: