Charles Leclerc set an early benchmark for the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend by going fastest in first practice.
The Ferrari driver lapped in a time of 1:34.802s to finish 0.166s faster than Williams’ Alex Albon as drivers got to grips with a difficult track surface.
Yuki Tsunoda showed a glimpse of what could be a welcome upturn in form as his future hangs in the balance, getting his weekend off to a great start with the third quickest time.
In a session where teams and drivers focused on learning rather than outright speed, constant running was in order to clear the mass of dust from the racing surface following the stormy weather in the week building up to the race event.
The lack of grid was clear to see as almost the entire grid struggled with the back ends of their cars into Turn 7, while Lando Norris kissed the wall at Turn 9.
📻 “I hit the wall pretty hard”
Lando Norris has had a moment out there, but he makes it back to the pits and heads back out sharpish! 👀#F1 #LasVegasGP pic.twitter.com/gdNP6hNkRT
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 21, 2025
The Briton was confined to the pit garage afterwards with what seemed an unrelated issue with the underside of his McLaren, losing running time in the middle-third of the session.
When drivers did switch onto the soft tires in the final 20 minutes, it was Leclerc who put his Ferrari at the top of the timesheet. The state of the track grip was outlined by the fact that he was some two seconds down on the lap record set by George Russell in qualifying last season.
Albon was ahead of Tsunoda, with both drivers putting in impressive efforts to kickstart what they will hope is a positive weekend in the Williams and Red Bull cars.
Max Verstappen was fourth with an unspectacular session, with Sainz in the second livery-changed Williams next.
⏰ 10 minute countdown is on.
Albono sends it into P2 on the softs while Carlos is riding in P5 💪 pic.twitter.com/mTDDcoREB3
— Atlassian Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) November 21, 2025
Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri were sixth and eighth — split by Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar sporting another changed paint scheme — with Mercedes duo Russell and Kimi Antonelli ninth and 10th.
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was 11th, one of a number of drivers to have struggled to get the car stopped at Turns 12 and 14, as the top 14 cars were separated by less than a second.
Gabriel Bortoleto, who finished 19th fastest for Sauber, faces a stewards’ investigation for an alleged yellow flag infringement.
F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix 2025: FP1 results
Position / Driver / Team
Gap [s]
1. Charles Leclerc / Ferrari
1:34.802
2. Alex Albon / Williams
+0.166
3. Yuki Tsunoda / Red Bull
+0,269
4. Max Verstappen / Red Bull
+0.307
5. Carlos Sainz / Williams
+0.377
6. Lando Norris / McLaren
+0.456
7. Isack Hadjar / Racing Bulls
+0.497
8. Oscar Piastri / McLaren
+0.648
9. George Russell / Mercedes
+0.732
10. Kimi Antonelli / Mercedes
+0.736
11. Lewis Hamilton / Ferrari
+0.759
12. Pierre Gasly / Alpine
+0.787
13. Liam Lawson / Racing Bulls
+0.907
14. Fernando Alonso / Aston Martin
+0.944
15. Lance Stroll / Aston Martin
+1.092
16. Oliver Bearman / Haas
+1.188
17. Esteban Ocon / Haas
+1.321
18. Nico Hulkenberg / Sauber
+1.368
19. Gabriel Bortoleto / Sauber
+1.596
20. Franco Colapinto / Alpine
+1.956
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