Norris on top at Las Vegas GP practice

LAS VEGAS:

McLaren's Formula One championship leader Lando Norris topped the Las Vegas Grand Prix timesheets on Thursday after the second practice was twice red-flagged due to a suspected loose drain cover.

The track action was halted as a precautionary measure with 20 minutes to run after a marshal reported the problem just before Turn 17 of the floodlit street circuit.

Red flags were then waved again with just over two minutes remaining to end the session shortly after the drivers had returned to the track following a 15-minute delay.

Governing body FIA said on-site personnel had reported the same manhole cover was still shifting as cars passed over it and the situation was checked as a precaution.

Loose drain covers were a problem in practice for the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix in 2023, with one wrecking Carlos Sainz's Ferrari when he drove over it.

Norris, who has a 24-point lead over teammate Oscar Piastri going into the race with three rounds remaining, produced a best time of one minute, 33.602 seconds on the soft tyres after Ferrari's Charles Leclerc set the pace in practice one with 1:34.802.

"We didn't manage to get too much from FP2, given the disruption, but we did get a slightly better feeling than in FP1," Norris said, referring to the two practices.

"We made some good progress and we've got a reasonable feeling altogether. Some positives to build on and some areas to try and improve going into tomorrow."

Norris brushed wall

Norris had brushed the wall without damage in that opening session and was sixth, while Piastri was eighth.

The Australian was 14th in the second practice after having to abort a quick lap before the first red flag, and not getting in a lap on the softs, with McLaren looking more competitive on the evolving track.

Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli was second, 0.029 slower than Norris, and Leclerc third, the Monegasque stopping with four minutes remaining.

"Something broke. Gearbox. Can I shift or not?" he asked over the radio, his race engineer telling him not to.

The Williams of Alex Albon was second in the opening practice session, with Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda third and four-times world champion teammate Max Verstappen fourth.

Verstappen was ninth in the later session with his time set on medium tyres, one of several running out of time to try the softs.
McLaren have cautioned repeatedly in the run-up to Las Vegas that they are likely to face a tougher time at a track that has not favoured them in the past.

"I think this could be a tricky weekend," chief executive Zak Brown told Sky Sports television halfway through the first session.
The opening session was on a dirty and unrepresentative track, on streets used by regular traffic, but Leclerc was on the pace from the start, with teammate Lewis Hamilton only 11th. 

Rules revamped

Formula One's governing body says next year's rules revamp will fix a loophole that has allowed teams to exceed a driver's engine allocation without the new power unit being included in cost cap calculations.

Four-times world champion Max Verstappen started in the pitlane and finished on the podium in Brazil this month after Red Bull replaced the Honda engine in his car with a brand new one.

Rivals McLaren subsequently asked the International Automobile Federation (FIA) whether the engine would be part of Red Bull's cost cap spending, something of a grey area at present.

McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are one-two in the drivers standings with three rounds remaining but Verstappen remains a threat in third place and 49 points off the lead.

"If the engine was changed for performance reasons, it should go in the cost cap," McLaren principal Andrea Stella said at the time.
Engine changes for reliability reasons fall outside the cap, however.

FIA lacks expertise

Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA's single-seater director, acknowledged the governing body was currently reluctant to argue with a team or power unit manufacturer over what might be a reliability issue.

"We don't feel we have the expertise to argue with them whether it's really a reliability or strategic change," he told reporters after opening practice at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.