Las Vegas GP practice halted by loose manhole as Norris edges Antonelli

A 0.029-second duel between Norris and rookie Antonelli ended abruptly. Now, teams scramble for qualifying prep with scarce soft-**tire** data.

, and Administrator

2025 November 21 . 1:14 PM

1 min read

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Las Vegas GP practice halted by loose manhole as Norris edges Antonelli

The second practice session for the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix was cut short on November 20 after a loose manhole cover disrupted proceedings. Drivers had completed 1.5 sessions without issue before the problem emerged in Turn 17. Lando Norris led the timesheets with a narrow margin over Andrea Kimi Antonelli before the stoppage.

Norris set the fastest lap of the session at 1:33.602, edging out Antonelli by just 0.029 seconds. Nico Hülkenberg followed in fourth, finishing 0.3 seconds behind the leader. Charles Leclerc held third place at the time of the red flag, though he had not recorded a timed lap on soft tires due to a mistake and a gearbox failure that forced him to stop.

Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson secured fifth and sixth positions for Toro Rosso. George Russell ended the session in seventh, missing his chance to set a competitive soft-tire lap. Alexander Albon took eighth for Williams, also running on soft Pirellis.

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top ten, both posting their best times on medium tires. The session’s early end came after a loose manhole cover was spotted in Turn 17—an issue that had previously affected Carlos Sainz in 2023, damaging his car’s chassis.

The disrupted session left Leclerc in third on the timesheets, though his gearbox problem prevented a full soft-tire run. Sainz’s past experience with a similar manhole issue added context to the stoppage. Teams will now prepare for qualifying with limited soft-tire data from the shortened practice.