REPORT: A Solid First Day in Vegas

It was a productive first day of running in Nevada as Atlassian Williams Racing put rubber to the Las Vegas strip for the first time in 2025.

Cooler conditions made for a low grip start to the evening, even despite the earlier session start times, compared with the previous two years.

Nonetheless, Alex and Carlos both made positive headway in the opening session of the night, finishing in P2 and P5 respectively, with some promising early pace.

A light drizzle marked the start of the second practice session - but nothing to the levels of the rainfall that had struck Vegas earlier in the week, and certainly nothing to disrupt the running. It was dry tyres across the board for the start of FP2, but the light rain did keep the surface from ramping up at the usual rate.

Two red flags interrupted the final third of proceedings, but Alex and Carlos were able to get some solid laps on the board, and finished P8 and P13 respectively.

Attention now turns to Friday night under the lights, ahead of FP3 and a Qualifying session that could play a big role in shaping the rest of the weekend.

Speaking after the session, Alex Albon assessed his first day of Las Vegas activity by saying, "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."

Carlos Sainz lamented the late-session stoppages in second practice, but also saw the positives from Thursday's outings.

He said, "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."