Here is our full text transcript from the second free practice session for the 2023 Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix:
After a long wait, we have an official start time: that’s 10:30am in the UK, but a remarkable 2:30am local time in Las Vegas.
15 minutes until P2 set to finally begin The Safety Car is on a reconnaissance lap of the repaired track. Race director Niels Wittich is in the Safety Car to do some final checks. We shouldn’t be too far away from some track action as the engines begin to be fired up in the pit lane.
Carlos Sainz, along with several other weary looking drivers, has just made his way across the paddock. The Ferrari driver gives a deserved pat on the back to one of the engineers who has helped to impressively get his car ready for FP2.
It’s 2.30am local time in Vegas and we have second practice finally under way! The waiting is over and we are being rewarded.
Nobody has ventured onto the track though…
87 mins to go: The first cars out are the McLarens. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are soon joined on track by several others, including Max Verstappen. Lando Norris reports he’s in limp home mode and is told to come into the pit lane. He tries to carry on but goes into the slow mode again and now he’s coming in.
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84 mins to go: Max Verstappen goes a 1:41.905 which is one second slower than Charles Leclerc’s time from the eight minutes of running we got in the opening session. Under the 100-second barrier from Carlos Sainz and it puts him in first place. What a job by his mechanics to get the car repaired, a brilliant effort from Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton is just half a second behind as the times begin to tumble.
80 mins to go: Charles Leclerc is pretty handy on a street circuit over one lap and he’s building into this Las Vegas track nicely. It’s a 1:38.917 from Leclerc which makes it a Ferrari one-two.
76 mins to go: Verstappen, Hamilton, Sainz and Leclerc are all trading top spot. It’s Charles Leclerc who is back in first place as he goes two tenths faster than his Maranello teammate to restore a Ferrari one-two. Everyone is on track apart from the two McLarens. Lance Stroll is the latest driver to have a moment. The Aston Martin went off at Turn 14, but avoids the barriers and any damage. It’s clearly still very slippery out there.
71 mins to go: Max Verstappen is looking to make it three wins from three in the USA this year, after victories in Miami and Austin.
He’s currently quickest by a couple tenths from Charles Leclerc. For what it’s worth, Verstappen is on the mediums and Leclerc is on the softs. A purple final sector from Alex Albon puts him into third. Williams are very strong in a straight line, so this track should suit them. Logan Sargeant is in eighth, just 1.3s behind Verstappen’s leading time.
We knew it was coming, but the FIA have now made it official that Carlos Sainz will get a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race. That’s because he’s fitted a third energy store of the season, exceeding the permitted two.
59 mins to go: Carlos Sainz goes quickest as Max Verstappen locks up at Turn 12 and goes down the run-off. He pirouettes his car and carries on his way.
54 mins to go: Most teams are doing some qualy sims at the moment and Ferrari are quicker than Red Bull on these soft tyre runs. It’s Charles Leclerc who is 0.082s quicker than Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen is four tenths behind but on a quick lap…It’s third place for Verstappen and he’s three tenths down on the Monegasque driver. Lewis Hamilton goes fourth on his latest soft tyre lap.
48 mins to go: Strong lap from Lewis Hamilton as he jumps up to second and is just 0.003s adrift of the flying Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari man was about to go even faster but locks up at Turn 12.
38 mins to go: Max Verstappen has dropped down to seventh on the timesheet right now but is back on circuit on soft tyres again, so let’s see what kind of pace he has got at this stage. More new soft tyres are being thrown onto the cars because the drivers have plenty of new tyres, given the lack of running in practice one. Verstappen finds a decent chunk of time to go 0.047s quicker than Sainz. Let’s see what Leclerc and the Mercedes can do.
33 mins to go: WOW. Big lap from Charles Leclerc as he goes 0.611s quicker than Max Verstappen. “Stonking doesn’t seem good enough,” reacts Sky Sports F1’s David Croft as he sums up that lap.
30 mins to go: A little spin for George Russell and he’s back on his way. He’s down in ninth at the moment, with team-mate Lewis Hamilton in seventh.
28 mins to go: Carlos Sainz slots into second and is 0.125s behind Leclerc’s rapid 1:35.696. Sergio Perez is third and Valtteri Bottas sets a blistering lap in the Alfa Romeo to go fourth. 25 mins to go: Charles Leclerc finds even more time to move half a second clear of the field. He really is flying along and is enjoying driving close to the barriers.
11 mins to go: As usual in second practice, the final part of it sees everyone on heavier fuel to do a long run and see what the tyre degradation is like. Early indications are there isn’t too much tyre wear, even without a lot of rubber on the track.
10 mins to go: That’s a very near miss for Logan Sargeant. The American came onto radio to reveal a kiss of the barrier with his Williams. But it’s minimal enough contact that he appears to have avoided any damage. 6 mins to go: The drivers are still finding the limits on these longer runs as Carlos Sainz has a twitch going into Turn 1 and goes wide, with George Russell locking up at Turn 14.
There we go, that’s it for practice two in Las Vegas. We see the chequered flag for the first time and it’s 4am in the morning over on the west coast.
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