Lando Norris led the second practice session at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, narrowly outpacing Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli by just 0.029 seconds. However, the session was significantly disrupted by a loose manhole cover at Turn 17, which led to two red flags.
Red flag disruptions
The first stoppage lasted 16 minutes, and just after the restart, another red flag was deployed when the manhole cover was reported to be moving again. This incident drew comparisons to a similar occurrence two years ago when a manhole cover damaged Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari during a practice session.
Norris’ encouraging performance despite disruptions
The repeated disruptions caused by the manhole cover led to a distorted timesheet, but Norris’ performance was still a positive sign for McLaren. Despite previous struggles on the Las Vegas circuit, the team appeared to have found some promising pace during the session.
