George Russell tops FP3 timings at Las Vegas Grand Prix as McLaren suffer potential electrical issue

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George Russell was the fastest in the final practice session at the Las Vegas Grand Prix as both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri saw a disappointing end to the run.

Overnight rain has reset track conditions, resulting in cars running inters in the early minutes due to puddles on the racing line.

The Las Vegas Strip Circuit is notoriously slippery, and cars do struggle for grip even in dry weather, so the wetter conditions significantly reduced the grip in the opening stages.

Teams were initially hesitant to send their drivers out onto the track while it dried, with the risk of an accident before qualifying later in the day being too significant.

Early runs really tested the cars, which have never run wet tyres on the Nevada track, with Oscar Piastri setting the marker on the inters in the first 15 minutes.

Drivers struggled with some sliding when exiting the tighter corners, with times reflecting the conditions in the early stages, being over 10 seconds slower than yesterday’s FP2 times.

Yuki Tsunoda was brought back into the garage in the first part of practice, with the team telling him: “We’ve got an issue with the car”. Although it was initially believed to be a potential engine issue, Red Bull revealed that he suffered from a slow puncture.

At the halfway mark of the session, weather radars suggested that rain was once again in the air, which could make the track wet again before qualifying.

Lando Norris was the first driver to take a risk on dry tyres, putting on a set of softs with 30 minutes of the session remaining.

Despite conditions still looking a little tricky, the championship leader was told by his race engineer, Will Joseph, “remember, zero risk”, which suggested that McLaren had taken quite a gamble with the slick tyres.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1, the team principal, Zak Brown, said: “We wanted to see if the track was ready – I don’t think it is” before adding “still too many corners you’ve got to be cautious on”.

After early soft tyre runs, Charles Leclerc topped timings ahead of Tsunoda, who once again found himself above his teammate Max Verstappen.

Lewis Hamilton was quick to find pace in the latter stages of FP3, although he nearly suffered a nasty crash with Liam Lawson in the final sector. The Brit was on a flying lap down the back straight before being caught out by the slowing Kiwi and having to react quickly to avoid a collision.

McLaren really struggled for pace in the closing stages, with Piastri and Norris finding themselves in 13th and 14th respectively with five minutes remaining.

The Brit came into the pit lane towards the end of FP3, with mechanics having to handle the car with rubber gloves, which suggests an electrical issue with the McLaren.

Piastri followed his teammate into the garages just minutes later, with the engineers also wearing the same safety precaution when handling his car.

It’s concerning for the championship leaders, with just hours to go before qualifying.