Norris expected troubles in Las Vegas GP – Lando Norris claimed a dominant pole position for the 2025 Formula One Las Vegas GP. Yet with the track improving almost a second per lap, he was fortunate Red Bull had misjudged the timing of Max Verstappen’s last run.
The world champion started his final push for pole while Norris was almost a lap behind. This meant the Red Bull driver finished his lap, whilst Norris had well over a minute to go before he hit the chequered flag.
Dr. Helmut Marko admitted after the session, the team had made a mistake in terms of the timing of Verstappen’s final lap, which had it been made at a similar time to Norris, wold afforded him an extra second and then pole. “After Q1 and Q2, we were actually expecting pole position, but the timing didn’t work out. We missed the final lap, the one Lando managed. That’s when the conditions were best,” the Austrian admitted.
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“Our tyre cooling manoeuvre didn’t work properly. The traffic messes everything up. You need a relatively clear lap. Maybe, we also went out a touch too early.”
Over the last six Grand Prix weekends, the race has been won from pole position. If this was to be the case it would match the all time F1 record of seven set in 1973. Yet Norris’ pole in Vegas is no guarantee of a win, given the issues the team were having in dry running earlier in the weekend.
The MCL39 has been the best car at managing its tyres in hotter climates this season, but conversely it means the low grip surface and cold temperatures in the Nevada desert evenings have been problematic for the drivers. Getting the tyres up to temperature has been a struggle.
This means the McLaren drivers have been sliding their cars in the dry sessions with tyres not up to temperature, which causes graining – where the tyre sheds some of its contact patch and the resulting marbles stick to the surface of the rubber.
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Norris suffering from graining in Vegas
Graining reduces the grip even further and the McLaren drivers end up in a spiral of ever decreasing grip the longer they continue on those tyres. With qualifying being in the rain, graining was not an issue for Norris or Piastri, but with the Grand Prix forecast to be dry, Lando is not out of the woods despite being on pole position.
Before the cars hit the track in Sin City, Lando Norris was open about his issues with graining. “I always struggle a lot with front graining,” he said. “I’m definitely better now – I think I probably used to be the worst on the grid.
“I hate it. I hate understeer. I hate the front not working – those kinds of things. And that’s something that can happen a lot here as well and has done in the past. If I go out and FP1, FP2 and I grain the fronts, I’m not going to be very happy when I come in. And you’re going to ask me in the [media] pen, and I’m going to probably say it’s been a crap day.”
In free practice one Norris and Piastri were slow finishing the session just P6 and P8 respectively and whilst Norris was quickest in FP2 this was because just three drivers completed their qualifying simulations before the red flags.
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McLaren not good in the dry in Sin City
The pair were plumb last in the final practice session, before the rains came which levelled the playing field. And a drying lap and a well timed last push run saw Norris finish the session top of the time sheets.
Said team boss Andrea Stella: “We managed to be competitive in wet conditions in Vegas, which are actually quite exceptional. And, if anything, we saw yesterday that we were relatively OK over a single lap with the soft tyres – even though not many cars actually were able to complete a lap in the second session.
With pole in the bag, the McLaren team boss Andrea Stella cautioned over being over optimistic, accepting the pole from Norris was excellent, “but when it comes to race stints, we will see tomorrow.
“There’s definitely graining again here. It almost looks like the improvement on the graining side that we have had [on other tracks] with the 2025 tyres is not realised [here] somehow.” The graining in Vegas is “of a different nature”, Stella explained, “and this makes the tyres grain pretty much at the same level as last year”.
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McLaren boss predicts difficult Grand Prix
Of course the rain has washed most of the rubber laid down by the cars in the practice sessions, making the track ‘green’ which adds to McLaren’s low grip issues. Stella admitted their drivers had suffered graining in “pretty much in every condition here”, so even the higher temperature forecast for Sunday is unlikely to help.
“In practice here, we have seen that there was graining at the front, obviously, very visibly. But it’s not like the rear was in a great situation,” Stella added. “So you will have to see which axle is the most important in terms of protecting it.
“I expected the front to be the one. So like when you have front graining, you need to try and reduce the demand on the front axle – and in particular try to avoid having to steer too much, because in this low-grip condition this may cause some damage to the surface, and then this can instigate the graining.
“This is as technical as I can be. I don’t think I know more than that, so I really shared all my knowledge,” concluded the McLaren boss.
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Pirelli predict a one stop race
Pirelli are expecting the one stop strategy with drivers starting on the medium tyre and shifting to the hard to be the preferred race strategy. This is problematic for Norris and McLaren, given the graining could make them easy prey for Verstappen and Russell behind.
The Italian rubber company director in charge of motorsport had this to say about the Grand Prix on Sunday. “I don’t have a clear idea if they are planning a one-stop or two-stop,” said Mario Isola. “With the very little data that is available, they need to be flexible.
“We know that the track is green [the rubber build-up washed away after the rain]. We know that with a green track yesterday they had graining. If at the start of the race they have to push – because obviously they are fighting for position – and they initiate graining, then it’s difficult to clean it.”
Verstappen to pressure Norris tyres
“And in that case a two-stop can be an advantage. If you start to have degradation because of graining that is not manageable, you simply have degradation and probably here a lot of understeer because the graining is more on the front, then you have an advantage to stop twice.”
Assuming Verstappen holds station at lights out on Sunday, he will work his tyres in gently before attacking the McLaren driver ahead. Under consistent pressure from the Red Bull behind, it will be difficult for Norris to manage his tyres, given the two DRS straights are preceded by slow corners where Verstappen can get close.
Of course given his lead in the title race, Norris does not need to win the race in Sin City, but as always the drivers compete as best they can when a Grand Prix win is on offer.
Hamilton “rookie mistake” sees him P20 in Las Vegas
Lewis Hamilton is breaking records left right and centre this season, but for all the wrong reasons. The seven times Formula One world champion is heading for his first ever season without finishing on the podium.
Further, he is now the Ferrari driver who has failed to make the podium for the longest number of Grand Prix. The previous record was eighteen.
The latest debacle in Hamilton’s Ferrari experience came in Las Vegas when for the first time in his career he has qualified last for performance reasons only. On his way back to the pits, Lewis reported over the radio, “Sorry. I just couldn’t get the tyres working.”…. READ MORE
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