Max finishes third free practice Las Vegas in P2

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 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 little later, the track gets busier as Max heads out as well. He too is sent out on intermediate tyres. His first timed lap puts the Dutchman in P2, eight tenths behind Hamilton in P1. On his second lap, he closes the gap to just 87 thousandths of a second to the Brit, but remains in P2.

The lap times are dropping rapidly, suggesting that a switch to slicks may soon be possible. Max keeps improving as well, and after twenty minutes he sits in P4. Now it’s just a matter of waiting for the first driver brave enough to head out on slick tyres.

With 35 minutes remaining, Lance Stroll is the first to attempt a run on slicks, while Max is informed over the team radio that more rain is expected within ten minutes. Stroll abandons his first lap and heads back to the pits.

At the halfway point of the session, Norris heads out on soft tyres. His lap times remain far off his earlier efforts on intermediates, and after a few laps the championship leader returns to the pits. In the meantime, Max has also taken to the track on a set of softs. There is quite some traffic on his first lap, but his second effort puts him up to P3. On his third lap, the reigning World Champion manages to place his RB21 on top, going quickest by more than two seconds.

However, this is short-lived, as teammate Tsunoda takes P1, and shortly after, both Ferraris overtake the Red Bulls.Max responds immediately by reclaiming P1 on his next lap, but again it doesn’t last. The Ferraris once more dive under his time, pushing him back to P3. The expected rain has yet to arrive.

With just over ten minutes remaining, Max climbs back to P1. By now, the entire field has set its best laps on the soft tyre. In the closing stages we see several changes at the top, but in the end it is Russell who comes out on top. That brings an end to the third free practice session in Las Vegas.

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Results third free practice Las-vegas: