Russell looks for repeat win at F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix — PHOTOS

In Formula One, success at a track one year doesn’t correlate to future success the next year. Mercedes driver George Russell is fully aware of that.

Russell is the defending race winner at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. After the first rounds of practice Thursday, there was room for Russell to improve his chances to win the race after he was ninth fastest in the first practice and seventh in the second practice.

“Last year was a great race for us,” Russell said at a news conference Wednesday. “The car definitely performed very well in these cooler conditions, but we’ve also got to be realistic that success from a year ago doesn’t mean you’re going to have success a year later.”

The third annual F1 race is at 8 p.m. Saturday — 50 laps around the 17-turn, 3.853-mile course on the Las Vegas Strip. Racing on the track begins at 4:20 p.m. with the second race of the weekend for F1 Academy, the all-female driver series.

Russell appeared to have turned a corner Friday. He was the fastest (1 minute, 34.054 seconds) in the final practice, and he later qualified fourth (1:48.803) for Saturday’s race.

‘Competitive’ car

The 27-year-old British driver is in his first year as Mercedes’ lead driver, following Lewis Hamilton’s departure from the team after 12 years to join Ferrari following the 2024 season.

Russell has found success this season, being one of four drivers in F1 to win this season. He claimed victories in Canada (June 15) and Singapore (Oct. 15). He’s finished on the podium six other times.

Sitting fourth in the drivers standings, Russell (276 points) is 114 points behind leader Lando Norris (390) and has a large gap behind Oscar Piastri (366) and Max Verstappen (341) — the three other F1 drivers who have won this year.

While Russell did win twice last year, he finished sixth in the points. He said last year’s car was better adapted for cooler conditions, like the race in Las Vegas, but wasn’t strong overall. This year, that’s flipped.

“We had a car that was exceptionally good in those cooler conditions, and I think that’s why, as a team, we had more victories, but we were further away in the (constructors) championship,” Russell said. “We finished fourth last year. We’re fighting for second this year. We do have a car that is stronger across a range of circuits, but it does potentially mean we won’t be as competitive at these outlying circuits.”

Battle for second

McLaren (756 points) has wrapped up the constructors championship. Mercedes is second with 398 points, but Red Bull (366) and Ferrari (362) are close behind with three races remaining.

Russell’s rookie teammate, 19-year-old Kimi Antonelli, has been solid, sitting at seventh in the drivers standings and coming off a career-best second-place finish at the last race in Brazil.

On Saturday, Russell will make his 150th career F1 start. He’s a five-time race winner and has finished on the podium 23 times. Russell said he’s optimistic about winning another race this season and winning races are the focus for the rest of the year to try and finish second in the constructors championship.

“Not being complacent, just taking it race by race,” Russell said. “And of course, our goal is to finish second (in the constructors’ championship), but we also want to win again this season. I think these next two races are the best chance.”

Rainy qualifying

Norris survived a wild and wet qualifying session to win the pole for Saturday’s race with a time of 1 minute, 47.934 seconds.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen qualified second (1:48.257) and Williams’ Carlos Sainz Jr. was third (1:48.296).

A steady shower dampened the circuit for the start of qualifying. The rain stopped before the start of the second round of qualifying.

The track was still wet enough that drivers needed rain tires for the second round, but the top 10 qualifiers went to regular tires for a dry racing line formed in the final round. There were no red flags or stoppages during qualifying.

It’s Norris’ first pole in Las Vegas as he looks to extend his championship lead over Piastri and Verstappen. Piastri qualified fifth (1:48.961).

“Good enough for P1 today,” Norris said. “Not the nicest of conditions, but I’m happy it stopped raining and we could get a good qualifying in.”

Also on Friday, Doriane Pin won the first F1 Academy race in Las Vegas before F1 qualifying. Pin (162 points) holds a 20-point lead in the drivers standings over Maya Weug (142 points) with one race remaining in the season. Weug was involved in an accident on the formation laps before the race started.

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.