F1 MATHS: Key numbers after the opening day at Las Vegas
Championshup runaway leader Lando Norris set the benchmark in the interrupted second hour of practice at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo delivers some key numbers from a day that left many key questions unanswered.
1m 34.802s: In the first hour of practice under the lights on the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc was quickest in 1m 34.802s, ahead of Alex Albon in the Williams and Yuki Tsunoda for Red Bull Racing.
1m 33.602s - Track evolution was huge across the opening stages of the day, and drivers continued to find more time as the day went ahead. Championship leader Lando Norris ended up quickest in FP2, setting a time of 1.33.602 in the second session which was exactly 1.2s quicker than what Leclerc needed to go fastest in the opening session.
Following his podium finish at Interlagos, Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli ended up second quickest in FP2, 0.029s slower than the Englishman, with Charles Leclerc third for Ferrari running the Medium unlike the two ahead of him on Soft, 0.161s off the McLaren.
14 minutes - With 20 minutes remaining in FP2, the red flags came out as a manhole cover was reported to have come loose before Turn 17. The session resumed with six minutes remaining, but when there was just two minutes left on the clock, the red flags came out again for the same reason and the track did not go green again.
1.9 seconds - The 20-driver field was covered by 1.9 seconds in the opening practice, with Leclerc setting the benchmark while Alpine's Franco Colapinto brought up the rear of the field.
The second hour of practice saw Norris set the benchmark, and the gap between the quickest and the slowest lap time was once again 1.9 seconds.
92 laps - Williams ended the opening day at Las Vegas as the most diligent team after Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon recorded a total of 92 laps. The British team was followed by Haas (91 laps), Mercedes and Racing Bulls (89 laps each), Ferrrai and Alpine (88 laps each).
Red Bull managed significantly less laps with 81, while Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg recorded a total of 77 laps, followed by Aston Martin (75 laps) and McLaren (74 laps).
Three - Three different drivers set the quickest sector times in the three different sectors of the Las Vegas circuit. George Russell went quickest in the opening part of the track with a time of 26.258s, followed by Lewis Hamilton who also managed to dip under the 26.3-second mark.
The middle part of the track saw championship leader Lanso Norris set the quickest time with a 31.225. The Briton was 70 thousandths quicker than Charles Leclerc.
Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg set the quickest time in Sector 3. The German driver recorded a 35.817s which was only 22 thousandths faster than what Hamilton managed while Ferrari's Monegasque driver Charles Lecerc was also within a tenth which indicates that the Scuderia might be strong across the long full-throttle sections of the last segment of the track.
Only Bortoleto - For the third consecutive year, the compounds chosen for the Las Vegas street circuit are the C3, C4 and C5. Interestingly, only Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto used the white-walled hards at the second practice at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The rest of the field opted to build its running on the medium and the soft compound, chosing the yellow-banded rubber for the first stint before switching to the red-walled tyres for the second half of FP2.
