LEWIS HAMILTON bounced back from his Brazil horror show to complete an impressive practice double at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Having said he wanted to quit Mercedes in the aftermath of his disappointing 10th-placed finish in Interlagos a fortnight ago, Hamilton first saw off team-mate George Russell by 0.396 seconds in the opening running on the Strip, and then McLaren’s Lando Norris by 0.011 sec later in the day, to head both sessions.

Norris must take at least three points out of Max Verstappen’s 62-point championship lead to extend the title battle to the penultimate race in Qatar. Verstappen was an alarming 17th in second practice, two seconds off Hamilton’s pace. Carlos Sainz finished fourth for Ferrari, one place ahead of his team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Hamilton ended a two-and-a-half-year winless streak at the British Grand Prix in July, but he is seventh in the world championship, 203 points behind Verstappen and a place and two points back from Russell.

But the 39-year-old rolled back the years in Sin City to lay down an emphatic marker in the cold desert air which appeared to play to Mercedes’s strengths.

“I am feeling pretty good,” said Hamilton. “That is the first time I have had a day like that this year. The car was feeling really good in P1 and in P2 less so. We have work to do overnight.

“It is difficult to know exactly where we are and why we are where we are but I am really enjoying driving the track. We will see whether the car is still the same tomorrow.”

Verstappen will claim his fourth consecutive title if he outscores Norris today. But the Dutch driver finished fifth in the opening running, and then ended the day way down the order as he struggled with the handling of his unruly Red Bull machine.