Lewis Hamilton went quickest in the opening practice session for the 2024 FIA Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, beating Mercedes team-mate George Russell by three tenths of a second and eclipsing the third-placed McLaren of Lando Norris by over nine tenths of a second. 

In the opening part of the session times fell rapidly on the dusty and dirty Las Vegas Strip Circuit. Championship leader Max Verstappen, who has the chance to wrap up a fourth title this weekend, set the pace at 1:44.239 on Soft compound Pirelli tyres, but that time was swiftly bypassed by the Medium-shod Haas of Kevin Magnussen, and then by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque driver, also on Mediums, stopped the clock at 1:41.900. 

The times continued to fall across the opening 20 minutes, with the Mercedes’ pair of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell eventually leading the way, with Hamilton in P1 thanks to a lap of 1:36.927, just over a tenth of a second clear of Russell. Leclerc held third ahead of the McLaren cars of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, while Magnussen lay in sixth place ahead of Verstappen. 

As the session reached the one third mark Carlos Sainz moved up to sixth in the other Ferrari, only to be pushed back as Sergio Pérez, in the second Red Bull, posted a lap of 1:38.263 to take fourth place. Sainz responded, however, and a lap of 1:37.821 took him past the Mexican and to within two tenths of Leclerc. 

Just before the halfway point, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly jumped past both to take third place with a Medium-tyre lap of 1:37.458, 0.531s off Hamilton’s benchmark, but the French driver was then shuffled back by Norris who jumped from tenth to third with a lap of 1:37.396 set on Mediums tyres.

With fresh Mediums on board his Haas, Magnussen jumped back up to third thanks to a lap of 1:37.720, a little over three tenths off Hamilton. Leclerc, meanwhile, was on track on a set of fresh Soft tyres but his first flyer on the softest rubber on offer still left him 0.085s shy of Hamilton’s early table topper. However, the Ferrari driver completed a cool down lap and a second flyer of 1:36.430 pushed him 0.497s clear of the seven-time champion. 

Sainz, though, was also out on the C5 tyres and the Spaniard managed to go even quicker than his team-mate, taking P1 with a lap of 1:36.218, two tenths clear of Leclerc. 

A third flyer pushed Leclerc to the top again, but only briefly, as the Monegasque’s improved time of 1:36.007 was soon beaten by Norris who used Soft tyres to post a new benchmark of 1:35.954. 

With six minutes left in the session Russell vaulted to the top of the order with a Soft-tyre lap of 1:35.619 that left him three tenths of a second ahead of Norris. Hamilton then jumped ahead of Russell with a lap of 1:35.487, but a second soft tyre flyer of 1:35.397 carried Russell back to P1. 

Hamilton wasn’t done, however and his second flyer of 1:35.001 was good enough to seal P1, 0.396s ahead of Russell and over nine tenths of a second ahead of Norris who returned to Medium tyres for the final minutes of the session. 

Leclerc was left with fourth place, a second off the pace, while Verstappen climbed to fifth and split the Ferraris with a late improvement on Soft tyres. Behind sixth-placed Sainz, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso finished seventh ahead of Piastri and Gasly and the final top 10 spot was taken by Pérez. 

2024 FIA Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:35.001 26 234.982
2 George Russell Mercedes 1:35.397 0.396 29 234.007
3 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:35.954 0.953 27 232.648
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:36.007 1.006 27 232.520
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:36.038 1.037 25 232.445
6 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:36.218 1.217 26 232.010
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:36.262 1.261 25 231.904
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:36.451 1.450 26 231.450
9 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:36.478 1.477 24 231.385
10 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:36.536 1.535 25 231.246
11 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:36.811 1.810 24 230.589
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:36.817 1.816 25 230.575
13 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:36.948 1.947 26 230.263
14 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:37.152 2.151 25 229.780
15 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1:37.200 2.199 24 229.666
16 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 1:37.765 2.764 25 228.339
17 Franco Colapinto Williams/Mercedes 1:38.025 3.024 28 227.733
18 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 1:38.350 3.349 23 226.981
19 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 1:38.574 3.573 23 226.465
20 Liam Lawson RB/Honda RBPT 1:38.730 3.729 28 226.107