Ferrari completed FP2 at the Las Vegas Grand Prix in third place with Charles Leclerc (+0.161 from Lando Norris) and in tenth with Lewis Hamilton (+0.525). Let’s take a closer look at what happened during the second free practice session and the problem that affected Leclerc.
Ferrari’s performance in FP1
The first free practice session showed a Ferrari car in decent shape on the American track. However, it was difficult to fully evaluate performance due to the ‘dirty’ track conditions, which inevitably masked the true pace of the cars. The Ferrari engineers opted for an important comparison in FP2. Lewis Hamilton’s car was fitted with the extreme Monza wing, which had not been used in the first session, while Charles Leclerc kept the slightly higher-downforce wing he had used successfully in FP1. This allowed Ferrari to compare both setups and ultimately make the best decision for the crucial phases of the weekend.
What happened in FP2 at Las Vegas
Just before the session began, it rained on the Las Vegas circuit, meaning drivers faced a ‘green’ track with low grip. For this reason, the initial lap times were much higher than those seen in FP1. Ferrari ran both cars on new medium tyres, the yellow compound. The rain reshuffled the competitive order, with McLaren and especially Mercedes appearing to be back in contention. Ferrari remained competitive, although the car seemed slightly less stable compared to FP1. Despite this, after the first half-hour, Charles Leclerc set the fastest time of the opening stint, with Lewis Hamilton in fifth, around half a second behind his teammate.
The team then switched to new soft tyres to work on qualifying preparation. However, the drivers completed only a few laps due to a red flag that temporarily stopped the session. Overall, no one improved significantly during this phase because of the challenging track conditions. Following the track issue, the cars returned to the circuit only for the final six minutes. The green flag lasted less than three minutes, as Leclerc was forced to stop at the edge of the track due to a gearbox problem with his SF-25. As a result, the session ended prematurely.
Ferrari’s outlook for the Las Vegas GP
If the intention of FP2 was to gain a clearer understanding of the field, the result was quite the opposite. The rain reshuffled the order, and in green track conditions, Mercedes and particularly McLaren resurfaced as strong contenders—teams that had struggled at the end of FP1. Ferrari’s performance can still be considered positive, even though the SF-25 seemed slightly less comfortable in these conditions. The same can be said for Red Bull.
What can we expect heading into Saturday? It is hard to say. The only certainty is that teams will need to adapt quickly to the track, especially considering the potential for more rain at the Las Vegas night race. Ferrari will need to remain flexible and ready to respond to evolving conditions as they continue their pursuit of strong results in this unpredictable weekend.
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