Lewis Hamilton was fastest for Mercedes during Las Vegas Grand Prix practice on Thursday, while Formula 1 leader Max Verstappen finished the night only seventeenth and said his Red Bull felt like driving on ice.

McLaren’s Lando Norris, who can keep Verstappen waiting for a fourth title in a row if he scores three points more than the Dutch driver on Saturday evening, was second fastest in the second session.

Mercedes’ George Russell completed a British one-two-three on the timesheets.

“It was very slippery on the track today: I think we struggled to make the tires work, especially for one lap, and we were quite far off the pace,” said Verstappen, who was two seconds behind but not using made from the soft tire.

“The problem for us is definitely with the tires because we have no grip and it feels like we are driving on ice.”

Ferrari-bound seven-time world champion Hamilton had felt like walking away from Mercedes after the previous race in Sao Paulo, saying it had been the worst car ever, but he was back with a bang.

The Briton topped the timesheets for the first practice sessions in 1:35.001 seconds, 0.396 seconds ahead of Russell and 0.953 faster than Norris in cool conditions around the glitzy streets of the desert city.

Hamilton set a lap of 1:33.825 in the second session, with Norris 0.011 slower and Russell 0.190 off the pace – all on soft tyres.

“I felt really good today,” Hamilton said. “I think this is the first day of practice this year where we have been consistently strong and the car felt fast the whole time.

“Despite being at the top of both sessions, it’s difficult to know exactly where we are in the competitive order as everyone has different fuel loads and running plans. Our long-term pace didn’t look as good as our pace in the single round.”

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Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was fourth, teammate Charles Leclerc fifth and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly sixth.

“It wasn’t a great day for us and it seems to have been difficult for everyone. We are not as strong as we expected in the weekend,” said Leclerc, who took pole last year.

Norris’ Australian teammate Oscar Piastri finished eighth for McLaren, which is in a close constructors’ battle with Ferrari.

Verstappen’s under-fire Mexican teammate Sergio Perez finished only 19th.

The second training session was red flagged when Alex Albon’s Williams came to a stop. The Thai was late from the garage because his team was dealing with a problem with the fuel system that subsequently led to the failure.

Valtteri Bottas was handed a five-place grid penalty for exceeding the power unit component limit after starting practice with a new energy storage device.

The opening practice session along the transformed Las Vegas Strip was much more successful than last year, when the session lasted just eight minutes before Sainz’s Ferrari was badly damaged by a loose drain cover.

Verstappen will become champion again if he beats Norris on Saturday, with two rounds to go after Las Vegas.