Russell fastest in the third free practice session of the Las Vegas GP

The Anglo-Thai Williams driver was the first victim of the merciless walls that lurked on the streets of the Nevada city during this year’s 21st Formula 1 GP, as the impact left him with the FW43’s left suspension broken.

Albon attempted to return to the pits but lost his left rear tire and was forced to retire on the side of the track, forcing the organizers to abandon proceedings.

This red flag spoiled the last few fast laps left for both the Ferrari and Red Bull drivers. Charles Leclerc in particular was traveling quite quickly on the soft rubber before he had to abort his lap.

This probably helped the three young drivers from Mercedes, McLaren and Williams maintain the top three positions with a gap of 0.4 and 0.55 inches between them and Max Verstappen a further 8mm behind Sargeant.

Ferrari appeared to be testing its drivers’ tactics in the qualifying tests due in about two hours (11/18, 10:00 a.m.): in particular the slipstream that Carlos Sainz is said to offer Charles Leclerc on the 2km straight of the Grand Prix Las Vegas Strip, as the Spaniard was penalized 10 places at the start.

Otherwise, not much of interest happened in this third and final test session, with Verstappen showing up about halfway through and the teams once again focusing on thermal management testing of the tires – as temperatures in qualifying tests could even reach single digits.

That’s why we once again saw an unusually high number of driver gaps and exits in the corner exit areas – such as when Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo braked in turn 12.

The qualifying tests for the 21st F1 race of the year begin at midnight in Las Vegas, i.e. at 10:00 a.m. (11/18) Greek time – don’t miss Sportish’s LIVE.