Championship leader Lando Norris was fastest on the first day of track action for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli having established himself as the Briton's closest rival. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo delivers drivers' reactions after the opening day at Las Vegas.

Ferrari

"Our pace was strong today and I think we are in a relatively good place. That said, our competitors are strong and we have to wait and see how qualifying will play out. It will be tight, so I hope we can build on the positive day we had today and be in the fight for a top position tomorrow. "Now, it’s all about trying to anticipate the conditions we will find in qualifying and start the day on the right foot."

"FP2 was a good session. We made some strong changes and the car felt a lot better than it did in FP1, and even if the results don’t show it yet, I’m feeling quite positive. It was a bit unfortunate not to finish a lap on the Soft tyre, and with the issue with the manhole cover, no one really managed to get any long runs in today. Tomorrow looks wet, so it’s going to be a challenging day, but I’m feeling good about it."

McLaren

“We didn’t manage to get too much from FP2, given the disruption, but we did get a slightly better feeling than in FP1. 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.”

“With the Red Flags in FP2, it’s difficult to know exactly where we sit, but the car has decent pace and there are plenty of positives. FP1 was a pretty good session, and we just didn’t get a lap on the Soft with the disruption in FP2. We’ll do some more tweaking overnight and see what weather we’ve got tomorrow.”

Red Bull

“The balance in the car today has been okay and I think we do still need to improve a little bit and find some more grip in the tyres. Of course, the track improved a bit more in each session, so we were just trying to find how we could operate the tyres in a good window for Qualifying and the race.

"It has just been tricky with those interruptions to the session, but this was the same for everyone. You can’t compare this to other tracks with similar levels of downforce as it is a lot colder here and the surface is very slippery. Being fast on those tracks does not mean it is a given that you will be quick here, so we will have to see how we go tomorrow.”

“Overall, today has given me good confidence and I am happy with how we have ended our first day here in Vegas. My FP1 felt very strong and while, it is a shame how interrupted our second session was with all the track issues, I think the pace is there still.

"I am starting to learn about this car and especially on these low grip tracks, you want to have good confidence in the car because you are consistently controlling the car. The car was a little different in the second session to what I felt in FP1, but we recovered in the right direction as the session went on, and still even then the pace was ok.

"It was also good we managed to test different set-ups across the cars and now it’s about putting it all together tomorrow. I think it is very tight between four teams and we still have to find a little bit more speed in the car. I hope, and I am sure, we will find something overnight on the cars around us and let’s see how it goes tomorrow.”

Mercedes

"We haven’t had a bad day today. I think we are in the mix near the front, but we need to be realistic that several of our competitors also looked strong but didn’t put their laps together yet.

"We’ve come into this weekend with people keen to put the favourites tag on us, but the situation has changed a lot in the 12 months since we were so strong here last year. We have made the car stronger at other circuits but that has possibly made us slightly less strong here.

"It is definitely going to be close come qualifying tomorrow. It looks like there are any number of cars that could take pole position so we will have to be at our very best if we are to score a good result. We will work hard overnight and see what we can do tomorrow."

"Our first day on track here in Las Vegas was a good one. I enjoyed learning the track lap-by-lap and I felt good in the car throughout. We’ve still got some work to do if we want to be challenging at the very front this weekend, but it was a solid start.

"The track evolution was a surprise to me. The circuit was very green in FP1 and ramped up so much over the course of the day. We are expecting the same tomorrow so we will have to be ready for that, react accordingly and keep evolving as the track itself does. We will see how much that impacts qualifying, but it is definitely something we will need to take into account."

Williams

"Overall, I’m happy with today. This track suits us on paper and it seems to be doing so, but it is still close across the grid with very fine margins. In FP1 we got the tyres to work well, while FP2 was a little bit disruptive and we didn’t end up getting everything out of it.

"There are a few things to improve and focus on for tomorrow, and some more data crunching to do ahead of qualifying, but we’re in a decent place after today."

"Unfortunately, the issues in FP2 took away valuable time for everyone, especially for those who went out late like myself. Other than that, today looked promising.

"The balance of the car feels good, and the tyres feel okay, maybe too close to the limit but I think we’re on the right path. The forecast is looking like rain overnight but clear for when we’re on track, so we’ll keep working to fine tune the setup for when it matters."

Racing Bulls

“We had quite a good start to the weekend here in Vegas. It was less tricky than expected; I think the track is probably in better condition than last year. The overall grip is also better than I thought and I got into the rhythm quickly from FP1.

"Even if we don’t have much mileage on long runs, we had pretty good short runs today, which is great ahead of tomorrow’s Qualifying. We know it’s going to be tough, but it’s the usual story as other weekends where our target for tomorrow is getting into Q3.”

“I'm feeling positive after today's sessions. We struggled a little bit in FP1 and not everyone got to complete their laps during FP2, so we need to be mindful that we're perhaps not quite where we ended up. The main thing is that we're in a much better place than where we started today.

"Tomorrow, we'll have another opportunity to keep building on the car, so will see where we end up as it's very close as usual. It's super low grip on track and we had light drizzle which we couldn't see but could feel, making it very confusing to drive. Tomorrow, we shouldn't have any rain, but if we do it's going to be very tough. As always, we'll be working hard to ensure everything comes together for Qualifying."

Kick Sauber

“It was a pretty standard Friday for us. We worked through the usual run plan, and FP1 felt quite positive overall, while FP2 was a bit more difficult. I think a lot of drivers didn’t get a clean run on the softs, so the picture is still a bit unclear in terms of pace.

"There’s the usual work to do overnight: improving the balance of the car and fine-tuning the setup. It’ll be interesting to see how things unfold tomorrow once everything settles and we get a clearer read on the field.”

“Overall, it's been a positive, productive day. It’s a bit difficult to read the times since some drivers completed laps on the softs while others didn’t, and my own run on the softest compound was interrupted by a red flag.

"Still, running mostly on the hards helped me understand how the tyres behave, and up until the session came to a halt, the softs felt decent, too. It’s a new track and everything is still fresh for me, but we managed to get up to good speed today. There’s still room to improve, but I think we’re in a solid place with one practice session left before qualifying tomorrow.”

Alpine

“It's been an encouraging day for us today. I felt good in the car from the start of Practice, which is important, especially at a difficult track like this where you need confidence in the car to take enough risk.

"The car balance has been in a decent place all day and there are a couple of things I would like to work on but, overall, I have been comfortable and able to push the car towards its limits. Free Practice 2 was a messier session, also with the red flag stoppages at the end, and we were not able to fully maximise our programme.

"We will keep working hard and take some confidence into tomorrow. I have a decent record in Qualifying here so I want to keep the stats up! The target is to be in the mix for Q3 and we will give it our best to try and achieve that.”

“It was quite a tricky day where I never really felt at ease with the car. The first session felt pretty poor in terms of balance and overall grip, and I couldn't really find my way.

"However, the second session was better and we showed signs of improvement but some of the same issues we felt carried over. The second session was also a messy one, with not much to learn, particularly on the Soft tyres with two red flags at the end. Similar to Brazil, I'm struggling to have a good feeling in the car.

"We have some work to do in order to understand some of the recurring issues and why they're amplified in certain conditions. Historically this season, we have started the weekend slowly and seen improvements as the sessions progressed. So, we'll put in the hard work with the team tonight and see if we can find any steps forward for tomorrow when it really counts.”

Aston Martin

"It's difficult to read anything today as the red flags disrupted some of the push laps at the end. There was also a little bit of rain in Free Practice Two. So far it seems we don't have a lot of pace here, but we'll see how we go tomorrow in Qualifying."

"The slippery track and cold conditions are the biggest challenges here in Vegas. This circuit is all about building up confidence under braking and trying to find that last metre.

"We've made some small adjustments and I was getting more and more comfortable in the car throughout the day so that was a positive. We've now got some things to work on but the feeling in the car wasn't too bad."

Haas

“It was difficult out there, like it always is in Vegas. It’s difficult to get the tires up to temperature, and with the little bit of rain out there in FP2, it was even harder.

We have the main things to try and improve tomorrow, we couldn’t complete our run on the soft compound, we didn’t do any laps on it in FP2, so it was a bit of a disrupted session, but we got enough information to learn from. We’re going to work on getting more temperature into the tyres and gaining more confidence in braking.”

“We know there’s big track evolution on a track like this, but honestly, those first few laps I did in FP1 – on a new track – I was shocked by how low the grip was. It’s hard to describe the low level of grip that’s out there, but in turn, it means track evolution is incredibly high.

"In FP2, we were quite early to get onto the soft tyre, I didn’t manage to do a lap on it sadly, but it meant when I pitted, I was in a good position, and when I went out again, I was suddenly five or six tenths further from the front.

"It was a tricky session with the rain, traffic, and other interruptions, but I think we learned a lot. It’s a new track for me, so I’m also finding my rhythm around here, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”