Max finishes third free practice Las Vegas as second

Published on 22 November 2025 by Johan Peeters

Max Verstappen finished second in the third and final free practice session leading up to the Las Vegas Grand Prix. George Russell was fastest in his Mercedes on the 6.201-meter Las Vegas Strip Circuit. Behind Max in second place was Alex Albon's Williams in third. Isack Hadjar's Racing Bull and Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari completed the top five. Max's teammate at Oracle Red Bull Racing, Yuki Tsunoda, set the eighteenth-fastest time.

When the lights turn green at the end of the pit lane, the track is predominantly wet. The track temperature is 14 degrees Celsius, as is the air temperature. After a minute, Oscar Piastri takes to the track on intermediate tyres. A little later, Hamilton and Oliver Bearman follow suit. "Too wet for slicks," is Piastri's brief message to his team.

A bit later, things get busier when Max also takes to the track. He's also been sent out on intermediates. The Dutchman's first lap puts him in second place, eight-tenths behind Hamilton in first place. His second lap puts him within 87 thousandths of a second of the Briton's time, keeping him in second place.

The lap times are dropping rapidly, which likely means he'll be switching to slicks in the foreseeable future. Max also continues to improve, and after twenty minutes, he's in fourth place. We're just waiting for the first driver to dare to go out on slicks.

With 35 minutes remaining, Lance Stroll tries his luck on slicks, while Max hears on the radio that rain is expected again within ten minutes. Stroll doesn't complete his first lap and returns to the pits.

Halfway through the session, Norris takes to the track on the soft tires. His times remain far off his own on the intermediates. After a few laps, the championship leader heads back to the pits. Meanwhile, Max has also taken to the track on a set of soft tires. During his first lap, the reigning world champion encounters traffic, his second lap brings him to P3, and on his third lap, he manages to put his RB21 in P1 with a lead of over two seconds.

However, this is short-lived, as teammate Tsunoda takes P1, and shortly after, both Ferraris overtake the Red Bulls. But Max immediately strikes back, taking P1 on his next lap. But once again, it doesn't last long. Both Ferraris once again undercut Max's time, dropping him to P3. The predicted rain doesn't materialize for now.

With a good ten minutes remaining, Max climbs back to P1. The entire field has now set its best time on the soft tires. The closing stages see a few changes at the top of the field, but ultimately, it's Russell who comes out on top. This concludes the third free practice session in Las Vegas.

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