Published on: 22/11/2024 – 09:02

2 minutes

Hamilton set a best lap of 1min 33.825sec in his Mercedes to edge fellow Briton Norris in a McLaren by 0.011sec. Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate George Russell finished third.

Norris is trying to keep his weak title challenge alive, but Verstappen, aiming for his fourth consecutive drivers’ world title, made little impression in a cold and somewhat disjointed session and finished the session more than two seconds off the pace.

He leads Norris by 62 points with three Grands Prix remaining and will win his fourth title on Saturday if he finishes ahead of Norris or emerges at least 60 points clear.

The Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were fourth and fifth ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren.

Nico Hulkenberg finished ninth in the second Haas and Yuki Tsunoda 10th for RB while the Red Bull duo finished 17th, with Verstappen, and 19th with Sergio Perez.

On a cold, dry night in the Nevada desert, the second session began in dusty, low-grip conditions, with Hamilton leading Russell at the start of the opening hour for Mercedes.

This led team boss Toto Wolff to joke that the ‘Silver Arrows’ were the ‘dirty track champions’ and they resumed the same style until Leclerc took control after 20 minutes ahead of Russell.

Russell responded after 28 minutes after switching from mediums to softs with a lap of 1:34.015, four tenths ahead of the Monaco driver and good enough to hold off Hamilton’s lap by two tenths as the Mercedes pair continued to shine .

Ferrari’s switch to softs saw Sainz move up to second before Norris clocked 1:33.836 to take the lead ahead of Russell by almost two tenths, followed by Hamilton, relishing the rare conditions, who took the lead. relay in 1;33.825.

A red flag halted the action with 21 minutes remaining when Williams’ Alex Albon stopped with fuel system problems, leading to a six-minute delay as his car was towed behind the barriers by the commissioners.

At this point, Verstappen remained on the mediums and was 17th, clearly not chasing a simulated qualifying lap time as Red Bull struggled for grip. His teammate Sergio Perez finished 19th.

Ferrari also returned to mediums to run longer runs in race simulation mode, as did Red Bull, decisions which could pay off, but for Hamilton it was a welcome return to form after a difficult Grand Prix outing from Sao Paulo.

© 2024 AFP