Practice 3 Report - Russell leads Piastri and Sargeant during final practice

Logan Sargeant, Las Vegas GP 2023
© Williams

By Peter Habicht

George Russell was fastest tonight for Mercedes in the final practice with a 1m34.093s lap around the new 3.853 mile (6.201km) Las Vegas street circuit.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Williams’ Logan Sargeant were second and third ahead of the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, when Alex Albon, sixth on the timesheets, lost control and broadsided the wall at turn five with the side of his car and losing his left rear tire down the main straight, bringing out the red flag and ending the session with just over six minutes left.

Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin was seventh followed by Russell’s teammate Lewis Hamilton and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas.

Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was tenth fastest followed by McLaren’s Lando Norris and Nico Hulkenberg. With the early end to the session, the time normally taken in the closing moments by teams to run a practice start on the new tarmac was unavailable.

Farther down the running order, Aston’s Lance Stroll finished 13th quickest, followed by Alpine of Esteban Ocon, Alfa’s Guanyu Zhou, and the Ferrari’s of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. The AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda was 18th followed by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Tsunoda’s teammate Daniel Ricciardo last.

Qualifying begins at midnight later this evening.