Las Vegas Friday Practice Analysis: Early Pace & Setup Trends

Neon nights, cool desert air, and a Strip that resets grip every lap. Friday, November 21, 2025, gave us a tale of two sessions: Ferrari’s early punch in FP1, then McLaren’s riposte before the lights of the Strip flickered red—twice—in a disrupted FP2. With the drivers’ title finely poised and practice running in race‑rep conditions, every push lap—and every minute lost—mattered.

McLaren have long since banked the constructors’ crown; the focus here is the drivers’ fight. Lando Norris arrived leading teammate Oscar Piastri by 24 points, with Max Verstappen a further 25 back—margins that made Vegas setup choices more strategic than swag.

Key takeaways at a glance

  • Ferrari topped FP1; McLaren led FP2 as the order shuffled with track evolution and tyre prep.
  • FP2 was twice red‑flagged for track maintenance over a suspect drain cover at Turn 17, limiting quali sims and long‑runs. Overnight fixes included welding checks across multiple covers.
  • Pirelli brought C3/C4/C5, with front‑axle graining the watch‑out in cold conditions; the Hard looks the race‑day anchor if temps stay low.

Headline pace: who topped FP1 and FP2?

FP1: Ferrari set the benchmark

Charles Leclerc opened the weekend on top with a 1:34.802, ahead of Alex Albon’s Williams and the Red Bulls of Yuki Tsunoda and Verstappen. McLaren sat just outside the sharp end as teams learned the surface and cycled through out‑lap tyre prep. Early runs showed classic Strip behavior: big deltas lap‑to‑lap as the circuit cleaned up, and warm‑up more decisive than ultimate load.

Top five, FP1

  • Leclerc (Ferrari) 1:34.802
  • Albon (Williams) +0.166
  • Tsunoda (Red Bull) +0.269
  • Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.307
  • Sainz (Williams) +0.377

FP2: Norris times it right, then the reds fly

Under the lights, Norris fired a 1:33.602 to end Friday quickest. The context matters: he was among the first of the frontrunners onto softs, banking a quali‑sim before the session was halted for track maintenance. When the green returned, another red soon followed, freezing the board and leaving rivals without clean soft‑tyre laps. Kimi Antonelli’s P2 time came on mediums, a tidy reference for Mercedes as the session slipped away. Leclerc took P3 but parked up late with a gearbox issue.

Top ten, FP2

  • Norris (McLaren) 1:33.602
  • Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.029
  • Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.161
  • Hülkenberg (Sauber) +0.277
  • Hadjar (Racing Bulls) +0.291
  • Lawson (Racing Bulls) +0.299
  • Russell (Mercedes) +0.435
  • Albon (Williams) +0.465
  • Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.503
  • Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.525

The red‑flag factor: why the order is blurry

Two stoppages in FP2 for a moving drain cover near Turn 17 chopped the session into fragments and skewed reads on single‑lap pace. The FIA’s precautionary call meant most didn’t get a representative soft‑tyre quali sim; Norris’s banker lap stood tall while others were stranded in prep or on mediums. Overnight, officials welded the suspect location and inspected others, aiming to eliminate a repeat. This echoes the city’s inaugural troubles, but the fix arrived faster—and before qualifying.

Long‑run data: thin slices, useful signals

There weren’t many proper race runs, but the little we saw tracks with Pirelli’s expectations: front‑axle graining on Medium and Soft in the cold, improved markedly as the surface rubbered in; the Hard’s stability looked attractive for Sunday. With the Strip’s long full‑throttle blast cooling fronts, teams leaned on brake energy and longer prep to keep the cores alive. Transitions from green to rubbered‑in track trimmed several tenths, so beware reading too much into early stints. Expect the Hard to be the default race compound if temperatures mirror Friday night.

What we learned by team from the limited long‑run windows:

  • McLaren: Car responded well as grip came to the track; Norris’s soft‑tyre lap suggests the balance window is broadening, important if temps dip further in quali. Piastri’s headline pace was muted by timing; long‑run visibility remains limited but baseline looks solid.
  • Mercedes: Antonelli’s near‑Norris time on mediums is a green flag for tyre life; Russell’s pace on higher fuel before the red aligns with a car that can carry wing and still stay efficient.
  • Ferrari: Leclerc’s one‑lap speed is real; late gearbox issue cost data but FP1 control hints the SF‑25 can switch on fronts quickly—gold dust in cold conditions.
  • Red Bull: Verstappen didn’t do a clean soft‑tyre sim; medium‑tyre runs were steady, but ultimate quali peak is an open question until we see a full push with proper prep.

Vegas is Monza‑lite on the straights and Monaco‑lite on the brakes. That paradox shows up in setup: less wing for drag reduction, but enough load to counter front‑axle cooling and protect the rears in traction zones.

  • Wing level: The cars that looked most consistent carried a tick more rear wing to stabilize rear temps over longer runs; the trade is straight‑line speed versus keeping the tyres alive for the second braking zone after the Strip.
  • Brake energy and prep: Drivers used longer, harder out‑laps to light the fronts—two prep laps weren’t uncommon when the track was green.
  • Ride height and stiffness: With plank wear always a Vegas watch‑item and surface transitions still a factor, expect conservative ride heights in FP3 to avoid porpoising and protect the floor in the race stint.

This isn’t just theory—the tyre wear patterns and Pirelli’s notes on improved 2025 construction back the approach. Expect more medium‑to‑hard leaning in sims, and aggressive front‑tyre prep in qualifying.

Midfield movers: value where the grip is

  • Williams: Albon’s FP1 speed confirms the FW47’s efficiency at low‑drag venues; if they nail out‑lap prep, Q3 is realistic.
  • Racing Bulls: Hadjar and Lawson were both inside the FP2 top six—impressive execution when timing counted. Their long‑run picture is incomplete, but single‑lap upside is clear.
  • Sauber: Hülkenberg’s FP2 P4 highlights a car that’s slippery in a straight line; the question is deg once temps drop in race trim.
  • Aston Martin/Alpine/Haas: Clustered around the edge of the top‑10; tyre warm‑up efficiency may decide who sneaks through in Q2.

What Friday means for Saturday

Two things tighten the margins for FP3 and qualifying:

  1. Backlog of quali sims: Expect a high‑intensity FP3 as teams redo the soft‑tyre runs denied by red flags. Track evolution should be steep early, so don’t over‑index on the first 15 minutes.
  2. Reliability checks: Ferrari will want a clean systems run after Leclerc’s gearbox scare; others will validate ride heights after the overnight fixes to the track surface.

FP3 itself suggested Mercedes carried strong overnight form—George Russell topped the final practice, with Verstappen close and McLaren encountering electrical gremlins that masked outright pace. Keep that context in mind when projecting qualifying pace.

Tyres, temps, and strategy sketch

Pirelli’s C3/C4/C5 selection is unchanged from previous Vegas editions, but the 2025 construction is more robust against graining. In FP1, fronts showed the most marking on Medium/Soft; in FP2, once the surface cleaned up, behaviour improved. If Saturday night mirrors Friday’s temperatures, the Hard could be the most efficient race compound, making a one‑stop realistic—though front warm‑up on the out‑lap remains the rub.

Strategy implication: teams that can run a slightly higher downforce window without paying too big a straight‑line penalty may control rear temps and unlock longer stints on the Hard—useful if Safety Cars split the field.

Championship lens: pressure points and permutations

Norris banked the day’s best lap at exactly the moment that counted, a small but valuable edge when simulations get squeezed. Verstappen’s camp kept powder dry; we still haven’t seen his full soft‑tyre quali sim in representative conditions, so FP3 should reveal more. For fans tracking every pivot in the title math, plug your own what‑ifs into our live points model and see how a front‑row start—or a tricky Q2—swings the final two rounds. Simulate the title battle here.

For deeper context on the venue and upgrade paths, check our Las Vegas Track Guide: High‑Speed Strip, Setup & Cooling Challenges and the Development Tracker: Who’s Bringing Upgrades to Las Vegas 2025?.

What we’ll watch in qualifying

  • Out‑lap choreography: Expect tow trains and multi‑car prep sequences to hit the temperature window without overheating rears.
  • Sector balance: S1 braking stability and S3 straight‑line efficiency often trade off; the best laps will come from cars that keep the fronts alive into the final chicane while still punching through the air.
  • Traffic and timing: With lap time building late as the track rubbers in, a yellow or minor mistake could swing three rows on the grid.

Bottom line

Friday didn’t give us a clean read on outright pecking order, but it did underline who has a car that works when Vegas gets tricky. McLaren struck first under the lights, Mercedes showed an efficient window, Ferrari proved it can light the fronts when cold, and Red Bull left headroom on the table. With two red flags scrubbing soft‑tyre sims, FP3 will do double duty—and qualifying could reward the team that treats the out‑lap like a timed run of its own.