Fernando Alonso finishes third in the second practice session, while Max Verstappen finishes sixth. The session was delayed due to track repairs and took place without fans. Drivers experimented with tyre strategies and track conditions improved throughout the session.
Fernando Alonso finished third, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen down in sixth. The session got underway 2.5 hours later than planned following repairs to the track surface along the city's famous Strip following Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Alpine's Esteban Ocon suffering big damage in an FP1. FP2 took place in front of no fans after the police, on behalf of the race organiser, F1 itself, had to clear all fan areas including grandstands due to security staff shift patterns changing.
In the opening phase of what was an extended 90-minute session to make up for the earlier lost running, the pack was split across using the soft and medium tyres as they examined how many laps were needed to prepare the tyres for a flying lap while completing lengthy opening stints. Several drivers had stints at the head of the times as the track evolution factor kicked in with more rubber being laid down and the tyres finally heating up on the smooth new surface. That meant the times tumbled from Oscar Piastri's first timed lap of 1m43.832s to Verstappen's 1m3
Fernando Alonso Max Verstappen FP2 Practice Session Track Repairs Tyre Strategies Fans Track Conditions