When Formula 1 announced plans to race in Las Vegas, poor weather was probably not on the agenda. However, rain proved to be a factor in Friday evening’s qualifyingsession for the third running of the event, and it left us with a grid that has set up a great race for Saturday, with World Championship contenders Lando Norris and Max Verstappen on the front row.
Vegas is a notoriously slippery, low-grip track even in the dry, made harder by the cool November weather, leaving drivers struggling to get the temperature into their tires.
Throw in rain that left the track soaked enough for F1’s rarely-used full wets in both Q1 and Q2, and it was really tough out there for all the drivers.
It’s a tribute to the quality of the 20 guys on the current grid that only Alex Albon suffered significant contact with the wall after getting out of shape, and even he was able to crawl back to the pits.
This really was a spin of the roulette wheel for everyone in the world’s gambling capital. It could easily have gone wrong for the top guys – it says a lot that Lewis Hamilton found himself stuck in 20th and last after a nightmare session – and yet through it all, World Championship leader Norris emerged with a great lap on intermediates in Q3 to secure the top spot, just edging out Verstappen.
Title rival Oscar Piastri should have joined them in the fight at the front, but typical of his recent luck, he hit a yellow flag on his final lap and had to back off. He will thus start fifth.
“Pretty nasty,” Norris said of the conditions. “It just feels like you may as well have been out on slicks, to be honest. It was so slippery, difficult. The amount of wheelspin you have in places, how easy it was to lock tires, the white lines, the yellow lines – just everything was pretty tough. I’m even more satisfied with the end result because of how tricky it was out there today. But some good laps just to keep it controlled, keep it in a good manner through Q1, through Q2, and obviously risk a little bit more into Q3. And it paid off.”
Following on the heels of his dominant wins in Mexico and Brazil, it’s easy to suggest that this was another World Champion-quality performance from the on-form Norris. However, obviously, he still has to convert it into maximum points in the race.
“The car has been competitive, and Lando and Oscar, they have been competitive in all conditions and in all sessions,” said McLaren team boss Stella. “When it came to Q3, I think Lando was able to express some exceptional performance with the intermediate tires. And even the pole position lap, there’s a pretty significant mistake in the last chicane, which cost several tenths of a second, but in the first couple of sectors, that’s a very strong performance.”
Stella had sympathy for Piastri, whose life will be much harder from P5, with Carlos Sainz and George Russell separating him from his title rivals.
“I think when it comes to Oscar events, and let me call it luck, at the moment, is not necessarily on his side,” said Stella. “Like today, having a yellow flag in the most important lap of the qualifying session, when actually Oscar was in a very good position from a timing point of view, because I think he would have been the last car to take the flag and complete the lap. That’s just bad luck.”
Stella believes that the Aussie will bounce back in the race: “Oscar himself is very, very strong from a mental point of view. I think he understands very well how to process these factors. We were in the debriefing, and he was talking very calmly, just gave a sense of serenity, if anything, because he knew that he had done his best. But some events, they’re simply not under our control.”
As Stella suggested, Piastri seemed to take the disappointment very well. Perhaps it’s time for his luck to finally turn.
“Very tricky conditions,” he said when asked about his session by Road & Track. “I think Q1, I felt very good. Q2, a few little wobbles, but Q3 felt good again. It felt like things were coming to us pretty nicely, but unfortunately, not much you can do with the yellow flag on your lap. So, a frustrating end to the session, obviously. But I think the car and myself were quick, so we’ve got some pace for tomorrow, which is nice to know.”
Verstappen is normally the master of wet conditions, but even he didn’t enjoy the session and was relieved to have emerged with a front row slot.
“It was super slippery, it felt like ice,” said the Dutchman. “To be honest, not a lot of fun to do. I love driving in the wet, but this, for me, is a little bit too much, I would say.
“You just have to be super careful. And honestly, I was surprised there weren’t too many incidents. So everyone was behaving, I think, quite well – or scared, whatever.
“Just super hard to do a clean lap. You have people backing out, yellow flags, locking up yourself, 360 – all of that.”
Attention now shifts to the race, which promises to be a voyage into the unknown for everyone. It’s expected to be fully dry, but thanks to a dirty track on the first day, greasy conditions in FP3, and a wet surface in qualifying, teams have limited knowledge of how the tires will behave and how the track might evolve over a race distance. In addition, the rain has made it green again, washing away any rubber that had been laid down.
Last year, teams suffered tire graining in Vegas, and after tweaks from Pirelli for the 2025 tires, that hasn’t been such an issue elsewhere this season. However, it has been seen again this weekend, and it will no doubt play a big role as drivers try to keep their tires in good shape over race stints.
Last year, Vegas was one of McLaren’s worst races as it struggled to get the tires to work, but the team has done a lot of homework since then and has taken a different approach to mechanical and aero setup.
“We improved the car in several areas that we learned from last year,” said Stella.
“When it comes to the aerodynamic configuration, utilization of the tires, and also from a balance point of view. I would say the car’s balance is the main lesson from last year. There’s been special focus on making sure that the car is competitive in Vegas, based on what we’ve learned in ’23 and ’24.”
It should be a fascinating evening. A win for Norris, even with Verstappen and Piastri close behind and well inside the points, would be a big step towards securing the title.
However, he has Verstappen alongside on the grid, and the Red Bull driver has nothing to lose at this stage, and is not known for giving his rivals much space. Throw in the fact that Turn 1 is so slippery that in the past we’ve seen drivers sailing straight on at the start, and it could be a bit of a lottery as to who emerges in front.
And in an extra detail, McLaren wasn’t able to do post-session practice starts on the grid at the end of FP3 due to an issue that forced both cars to park early, and thus the team is missing some of the vital info that others picked up on how to fine-tune clutch settings for the real start. If that results in Norris losing a yard or two to Verstappen off the line, it could be crucial.
“We do take one race at a time, one session at a time, one start at a time,” said Stella. “And I think Lando has been doing this very well recently, starting from pole position. So I just think he has to keep doing what he’s been doing, with confidence, with good preparation, and with the smoothest possible execution.
He added: “We know that the grip is going to be very low with the cold tires into corner one, corner three. For me, it’s just important that we have a smooth race tomorrow and that we are in condition to express the potential we have, and then may the best win. But I think a clean first lap and a clean race is what we look forward to.”
You Might Also Like
