'Not a given that you are going to be quick' – Verstappen cautious of Las Vegas GP victory chances after practice

Max Verstappen believes "it's not a given that you are going to be quick here" after the opening two practice sessions for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, despite having been successful at other low downforce circuits this year.

The Red Bull driver enters this weekend aiming for his sixth Grand Prix win of the season and still remains in the hunt for a fifth back-to-back title, sitting 49 points behind Lando Norris.

Verstappen has previously won at the Las Vegas venue when it was introduced onto the calendar in 2023, the track and location offering a unique challenge due to its high-speed, low-downforce configuration and cold temperatures.

The Dutchman has won at both Monza and Baku this season, tracks which seem to suit Red Bull's RB21 due to the low drag set-ups, but Verstappen believed the Las Vegas venue posed an entirely different challenge and that repeating those performances was not a given.

"It's a lot colder here and the surface is very slippery so you cannot compare them to other tracks just because it's low downforce, it's not a given that you are going to be quick here," he said after the first day of practice.

Verstappen finished the opening one-hour session in fourth, fractionally behind team mate Yuki Tsunoda who was just over two-tenths off the outright pace, set by Charles Leclerc.

Two stoppages for track inspections in Free Practice 2 disrupted Qualifying simulations on the soft tyres for many drivers including Verstappen, who failed to set a time on the red-walled tyre.

He was left only ninth in the order, albeit only half a second behind Norris who had set his time on the softs, and stated getting the tyres in the right window would be key.

"It's been okay, bit difficult to understand what to do with those interruptions," said Verstappen when asked about the general balance of the car.

"I think we still need to improve a little bit to find a bit more grip out there. Obviously of course the track is improving quite a bit every session so we'll try to just focus on that, seeing how we can operate the tyres for Qualifying and the race."