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The final 60 minutes of running at the 2023 F1 Las Vegas GP ended with George Russell on top of the timesheets followed by Oscar Piastri. The season ended abruptly due to a red flag brought out by Alex Albon hitting the wall and losing the rear left tire with just five minutes left.
The order was a bit jumbled as track evolution played a major role. In P3 we had Logan Sargeant in his Williams followed by the Red Bull duo of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez in P4 and P5, respectively.
With the final practice session of the F1 Las Vegas GP in the rearview mirror, what did we learn? Let's take a look.
2023 F1 Las Vegas GP FP3: What did we learn?
#1 Charles Leclerc vs Max Verstappen for pole position
By the looks of it, when the dust settles, it is going to come down to the two drivers from Red Bull and Ferrari for pole position. Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc seem to have a little extra compared to everyone else in the competition.
From the looks of it, Ferrari seems to hold a slight edge with the low downforce wing paying dividends in sector 2. Hence, Leclerc might just be the favorite to secure pole position for the F1 Las Vegas GP.
#2 Track evolution is going to play a major role
The track continues to get better as more rubber gets laid down and it is safe to say that being on the track when the chequered flag falls and being the last to complete the lap is going to be crucial.
This could be the difference between setting a time good enough to qualify for the next stage or getting eliminated.
#3 Mercedes, McLaren, Aston Martin, and Williams are in a close battle
Behind Red Bull and Ferrari, there seems to be a logjam of cars with no clarity over which one of them could jump the queue. Aston Martin has looked strong with Fernando Alonso behind the wheel while Mercedes and McLaren showed decent pace in FP3.
Williams has shown a strong pace with Logan Sargeant finishing F1 Las Vegas GP FP3 in P3. It could ultimately come down to which driver is able to nail the final runs and that could ultimately decide the starting order.
#4 The track is contagious to crashes, red flags, and yellow flag stoppages
One of the major revelations as the cars are starting to find the limits of the track is that it can be punishing in different ways.
The walls are close and they are unrelenting when it comes to dishing out punishment. To add to this, there are potential banana peels all over the track where a driver can lose out if he misses the braking point as well.
All of these are going to lead to potential stoppages that could throw a wrench in the plans of several drivers. Stoppages are going to play a role in qualifying and in the race which could make it even more intriguing.
#5 Haas could spring a surprise in qualifying
Haas is one team that might be worth keeping an eye on. The team's major struggle has been its tire management. By the looks of it, this won't be a concern at the F1 Las Vegas GP and that should play to their advantage.
Haas might potentially have a Q3 running pace with Nico Hulkenberg. He does have a habit of pulling out these special laps from the car.
Having said that, there's still question marks over what the car could do but maybe it's worth keeping an eye on the team in qualifying.
