F1 Las Vegas GP: Lando Norris tops red flag-interrupted seco...

Lando Norris headlined Formula 1's second practice session for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which was interrupted twice in the final 20 minutes by red flags for a suspected loose manhole cover at Turn 17.

In a session preceded by light rain, it took five minutes before the drivers elected to brave a presumably slippery circuit - and it took much of the opening half to build up towards Charles Leclerc's 1m34.802s benchmark from FP1.

Oscar Piastri was first to surpass Leclerc's earlier time amid the early medium-tyre runs, and the times continued to develop as the circuit rubbered in further. Eventually, Leclerc landed on the best time amid the first-stage medium runs, settling on a 1m33.763s - a full second faster than his time from earlier in the evening.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli then toppled Leclerc's effort with his first tour on the softs, before Lando Norris nudged ahead by 0.03s to move to the top of the order.

The soft tyre running was then put on hiatus following a red flag with 21 minutes remaining, following the marshal's report of a suspected loose drain cover at Turn 17.

This was inspected by the FIA race control team and, after a 15-minute pause, was deemed that the session could resume with six minutes remaining.

Marshals and circuit staff gather to repair a drain cover on track which caused a red flag

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

While all 20 cars returned to the circuit, now sporting both soft and medium tyres, Leclerc had to duck behind the barrier at Turn 5 owing to a gearbox issue; the Monegasque was told not to use his gear shift and ultimately parked up to bring his session to an early end.

Ultimately, this did not affect his running versus the other drivers; the session was red-flagged once again as the concern over the Turn 17 drain cover continued to persist.

This ensured that Norris' lap could remain the fastest, ahead of Antonelli and the medium-tyre lap set by Leclerc earlier in the session.

Nico Hulkenberg was fourth-fastest over Isack Hadjar, who was just 0.008s clear of Racing Bulls team-mate Liam Lawson. George Russell was seventh ahead of Alex Albon, while Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton completed the top 10.

Title contender Piastri was only 14th, having been unable to improve on his medium tyre run during his first effort on the soft tyre.