Sin City Chaos: Day One Delivers Drama, Damage, and a Ferrari Surprise

With P1 running on a dark, cold Las Vegas Night, the biggest surprise of the day came courtesy of Charles Leclerc, who topped the opening session (FP1) and finished third in FP2. 

The Ferrari looked immediately comfortable on the cold, dusty asphalt, with Leclerc posting the first sub 1m 35s lap. 

This strong performance, contrasting starkly with their recent struggles on bumpy circuits, suggests Ferrari’s low-temperature setup has paid dividends. 

Perhaps our Senate Grand Prix clients were right in voting for Charles to win the Las Vegas Grand Prix, backing him by 30%.

However, the session ended with a classic piece of F1 drama: late in FP2, Leclerc suffered a gearbox issue and parked his Ferrari, reporting that "something broke." 

This mechanical failure, which resulted in a red flag, is a significant headache for the Scuderia heading into Qualifying.

For the championship contenders at McLaren, Friday was messy:

• Lando Norris endured a challenging FP1, surviving an early brush with the wall and running deep into the run-off area multiple times. However, he rebounded spectacularly in FP2, setting the pace with a 1:33.602 to top the session, showing his exceptional talent under pressure.

• Oscar Piastri had a frustrating day, finishing outside the top ten in both sessions and unable to register a representative lap on the soft tyres in the red-flag-interrupted FP2.

•  He finished 14th, reporting that he "did two laps for the whole session, so it's difficult to know exactly where we sit.”

The psychological battle continues, with Norris gaining an immediate psychological edge in pace, while Piastri desperately needs clean running to find the necessary confidence.

Just when the track started rubbering in, the inevitable struck: the "Vegas Curse" returned. A maintenance hole cover between Turns 16 and 17 came loose, requiring track maintenance and a lengthy red flag.

The day’s timesheets confirmed the field is tighter than ever:

• Williams' Wonderful Start: Alex Albon shone, finishing P2 in FP1 and P8 in FP2. Williams, sporting a special livery, looked exceptionally quick on the low-downforce configuration, with Carlos Sainz (the Smooth Operator) also strong.

• Mercedes' Progress: Kimi Antonelli impressed, finishing P2 in FP2, just 0.029s behind Norris, suggesting the Silver Arrows are far from out of the fight.

• Yuki Tsunoda, fighting for his future, finished an impressive P3 in FP1, beating teammate Max Verstappen (P4) in that session, showing his determination to secure his seat for next year.

The stage is set for a chaotic, unpredictable Saturday Qualifying. With limited information, cold tyres, and the constant threat of the wall, anything could happen.

And as always, when the lights go out and the drama unfolds, here at Senate Grand Prix, there is only one winner, and that's you, the race fans!