Las Vegas GP: Lando Norris fastest for McLaren but second practice disrupted by loose manhole cover

F1 Racing

Lando Norris hit back after a tricky start to practice for McLaren to set the second practice pace at the Las Vegas Grand Prix before the end of the session was heavily disrupted by a loose manhole cover.

After McLaren's pre-event concerns that the Las Vegas Strip Circuit may again not play to their strengths appeared to be realised in a difficult start to Friday, Norris set Friday's fastest time of 1:33.602 to outpace Mercedes' in-form Kimi Antonelli by 0.029s.

However, the timesheet came with a significant caveat given neither of Norris' two title rivals - Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen - the two Ferraris nor Mercedes' George Russell, last year's dominant race winner, completed their own laps on the soft tyre due to track issues with a manhole cover.

The red flag was first thrown with 20 minutes left on the clock when a trackside marshal reported a possible loose drain cover before Turn 17.

With Race Control unable to confirm whether or not that was the case via CCTV, personnel were sent down to assess that part of the track once all cars were back in the pit lane.

After those checks were completed, the session resumed with six minutes left but cars had barely completed out laps before the red flags returned. The second stoppage brought an effective end to the session given there was so little time left on the clock.

"Some Race Control personnel remained on-site when the session was restarted," read an FIA statement.