2025 F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix FP3 - As it happened: Russell fastest

We'll be back ahead of qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with the track due to go green at 04.00 UK time - until then...

A session that began damp and led to the first half being contested on intermediate tyres ends with lap times creeping close to the best of FP2.

The shift in conditions means there are still some question marks over qualifying - especially for McLaren - but Russell will take encouragement from being quickest.

Verstappen ends up second, followed by Albon, Hadjar and Hamilton - but it's still not easy to get a steer on how the all-important qualifying session will play out.

If it's a headache for McLaren, at least it's equal footing for Norris and Piastri in their personal battle.

Final minute and everyone is on track with the exception of both McLarens

Piastri and Norris are 19th and 20th, which is a measure of a few precautionary measures rather than pace but it leaves the team with a few more question marks heading into qualifying.

A few gremlins abound at McLaren right now as Piastri aborts his final laps due to a lack of telemetry.

McLaren will be rooted to the bottom of the timesheets as a result.

Verstappen now quickest, with just over a minute remaining

3mins to go and Albon moves quickest from Russell, Alonso, Bearman and Lawson

Liam Lawson hits the top of the timesheets with just four minutes of the session remaining.

That rain seems to have stayed away

Interestingly, Norris' car is being handled with care b y glove-clad mechanics, meaning the car isn't safe to handle electrically.

No-one is rushing or looking worried, so likely just a precaution

Piastri swaps to soft tyres and heads straight for a quali-sim but it's a scruffy lap and he loses four seconds to the top spot and is mired down in 18th place.

Verstappen still quickest, by two tenths from Leclerc, followed by Hamilton, Hadjar and Russell

10mins to go

15mins remaining in this session and the rain has held off long enough for the entire field to switch to soft tyres and get the fastest times down to a current benchmark of 1m 36.8secs.

Verstappen is now fastest from Hamilton, Russell, Hadjar and Leclerc but the order is changing all the time

Sketchy moments for Gabriel Bortoleto as his Sauber snaps out of Turn 2, just avoiding the wall

The softs are now finding their operating window and with 20mins remaining Leclerc is fastest (1m 41.8s) from Tsunoda and Verstappen

A few drivers out there on soft tyres, not so much to set fast times but to get some knowledge in the bag before qualifying before forecasted rain any moment now does its bit

Norris heads for a fast lap but it's not pretty with the McLaren fighting for grip on entry and exit - the inters are still the tyre to be on for now

Lando Norris and Liam Lawson are the first to attempt the dry weather tyres - Norris is told 'zero risk' 

Hamilton is currently fastest as we near the mid-way point in the session - he has also been the busiest out there, completing 13 laps

Rain is reportedly on the way, which might explain why the track is currently so busy

Box box for Yuki Tsunoda as Red Bull report an issue with his car

It looks like a handful out there with various missed apexes and squirrelling exits as the cars get the power down

Norris is fastest from Hamilton, Piastri, Hadjar and Verstappen but there is precious little to read into this as the cars pound round putting in the laps to get data.

This is right now very much a fact-finding mission for the conditions

15mins in and no-one has taken a chance on the dry weather tyres as yet

Alex Albon suffers a run-on at Turn 5, prompting some clumsy slow three-point turning in the escape road - avoids a scrape and gets on his way

The track is evolving and so is the timing screen - but the fastest time (Hamilton) is a 1m 45.7s.

Norris' fastest FP2 time was 1m 33.6s

Patchy track conditions are never pleasant in an F1 car, but this Vegas track exacerbates this issue.

For one, the surface is usually reserved for Vegas traffic and is less porous than your average circuit, the high-speed stretches makes braking a lottery and several braking zones are curved - those walls will look mightily unforgiving.

But! Even if it remains dry for qualifying, this is a crucial time for drivers to better understand the circuit in these particularly chilly conditions

Charles Leclerc came a cropper in FP2 after rolling to a stop with a technical issue.

However, what was originally feared to be a gearbox issue - raising fears of a change and a grid penalty - was in fact a faulty steering wheel. 

Which is handy because those can be changed in a few moments