George Russell completed a Mercedes training error at the Las Vegas Grand Prix after a late red flag cut short final qualifying preparations in FP3.

The front runners – except Russell – had each completed one flying lap on fresh, soft tires when the circuit began to gain traction when Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin eliminated itself exiting Turn 12, at the north end of Las Vegas Boulevard.

The Canadian parked near a gap in the fence, but the car’s warning lights suggested the hybrid system had not been safely disabled and the car was therefore unsafe for the marshals to touch, requiring a red flag to clear the stricken car to get the job.

With less than seven minutes left on the clock, the stoppage effectively ended the session, with running only resuming in the final 60 seconds to allow for practice starts.

It left Russell, who was the only one of the leaders to complete two flying laps, in first place with a best time of 1m 33.570s.

The benchmark on Thursday was about 0.3 seconds faster than FP2 and about half a second faster than FP3 last season.

Oscar Piastri, the penultimate front runner to cross the line before the red flag, was second and 0.215 seconds behind, while Carlos Sainz made it three teams into the top three by driving his Ferrari around the circuit 0.348 seconds behind him.

Lando Norris, the last of the top drivers to set a time, was fourth and 0.438 seconds slower than Russell.

Max Verstappen completed a huge turnaround for Red Bull Racing after complaining of a lack of pace on one lap at the end of practice on Thursday as his RB20 struggled in the low-grip conditions.

Changes made overnight did not appear to make a meaningful difference, with Verstappen complaining over the team radio of heavy grit on his left front tire and on the rear axle.

“The car is out of control,” he reported during his opening long-term simulation, and after being told to move on, he added: “I can’t drive it. I’m going to crash.”

He was called in for further set-up changes ahead of his qualifying simulation, which ultimately seemed to provide the solution.

His only run on soft tires briefly put him at the top of the rankings, to which he replied: “Grip felt miles better, much better”.

Unable to set a second fastest time, he finished 0.567 seconds off the pace.

Lewis Hamilton, who topped both practice sessions on Thursday, aborted his only representative run on soft tires to finish sixth, 0.771 seconds off the pace.

Alex Albon, his car recovered from fuel system problems on Thursday, was seventh, ahead of Williams teammate Franco Colapinto.

Kevin Magnussen and Pierre Gasly completed the top 10 ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in 11, the trio was 1.3 seconds off the pace and split by just 0.025 seconds.

Charles Leclerc was two-thirds of the way through his first qualifying run and had just set a purple middle sector when the red flag was called, leaving him twelfth.

Sergio Perez followed in thirteenth place, although the Mexican had two attempts at a flying lap before reaching the red flag.

Esteban Ocon finished 14th, ahead of Fernando Alonso, Yuki Tsunoda, Valtteri Bottas, Liam Lawson, Lance Stroll and Zhou Guanyu.