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Mercedes impress again in FP3 as Verstappen expresses frustration
George Russell finished fastest in the third and final free practice session, meaning Mercedes completed the practice hatrick. Max Verstappen spent much of the session frustrated with the performance of his Red Bull but improved late in the session following a setup change. He still found a Mercedes, a Ferrari and both McLarens ahead of him before qualifying.
Oscar Piastri finished second fastest, around two-tenths behind Russell. Carlos Sainz rounded out the top three and Lando Norris finished fourth fastest. Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top six. There was a place inside the top ten for both Williams drivers, with Kevin Magnussen and Pierre Gasly in ninth and tenth respectively.
What happened during FP3 in Las Vegas?
With the circuit back open to the public during the day in Las Vegas, the F1 cars had more track cleaning work to complete. Drivers once again reported a lack of grip over the team radios. After 20 minutes, only Perez and Verstappen had set lap times. The Mexican had the edge over his teammate after the Dutchman's first lap, but he upped the pace and moved to the top of the standings the second time.
Lando Norris ended the McLaren monopoly. On the soft tyres, the McLaren driver went purple in sectors one and two before losing a bit of time in sector three. He initially ended up around 1 second behind Verstappen's best. Yuki Tsunoda really upped the pace, he ended up going three seconds faster as the session approached the halfway stage. Both McLaren drivers soon moved ahead.
The number of lap times increased in the second half, with several different drivers spending time at the top of the standings. This included Haas. Meanwhile, Red Bull slipped further and further down the list and sat 19th and 20th. Verstappen's frustrations increased, calling his RB20 "undriveable" and warned that he would crash if he continued driving around the 'Sin City'.
He returned to the pitlane, and Red Bull made some changes. Verstappen channelled his frustration into lap time on the soft tyre and moved to the top of the timesheets by less than one-tenth. He said the grip felt "miles better" over the team radio, but others started to improve, with Russell going half a second faster. Lance Stroll stopped on track with seven minutes remaining and caused a red flag late in the session.