Norris left to rue ‘difficult’ day amid McLaren’s one-lap struggles in Las Vegas

McLaren driver Lando Norris says putting a clean lap together was “very difficult” for the team, as they struggled in the lower half of the top 10 during qualifying in Las Vegas – on a weekend where Norris needs luck to go his way to keep his slim title hopes against rival Max Verstappen alive.

Norris had taken five pole positions from the last seven Grands Prix in advance of Las Vegas, but was left down in sixth place at the conclusion of Q3 on Friday evening, one spot behind Verstappen.

Norris’s team-mate, Oscar Piastri, took eighth position.

It marks the first time since the season-opening event in Bahrain that McLaren have not featured in the top five in qualifying.

Lando Norris driving the (4) McLaren MCL38 Mercedes on track during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas at Las Vegas Strip Circuit on November 22, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images) — Norris was unable to capitalise on Max Verstappen’s weekend struggles

“It was just very difficult today, I mean the whole weekend we’ve been struggling,” Norris said.

“Maybe it’s not looked it as much from the timings and that kind of thing, but I think we’ve known all weekend we’re struggling a bit; just putting a lap together, just a clean lap, was just too difficult.

“[You’re] trying to find lap time but at the same time as soon as you try a little bit too much, you have another issue and it’s an issue that you’ve not had before, so it’s just too difficult, too challenging, to drive.

“There were some laps in practice where maybe you’re driving at 99 per cent and it just floats around and you’re like ‘ah, it was a good lap,’ but the chances of doing that every time were just too slim today.

Eighth placed qualifier Oscar Piastri of Australia and McLaren talks to the media in the Paddock ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas at Las Vegas Strip Circuit on November 22, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images) — Piastri was outqualified by his team mate for the fifth race in a row

“We expected to do a bit better than we did, but it just proved to be too much of a challenge.”

Piastri agreed that extracting lap time from the MCL38 “was tricky” and that “I felt like in Q1 and Q2 we were in reasonable shape, then in Q3 we just didn’t have much.

“My lap didn’t feel amazing but it was never going to get close to pole, [so we have a] bit of homework to do on why we’ve struggled a bit.

“I was a bit surprised to be as far back as we are; I felt potentially top three was going to be possible, but not where we are now. A bit more challenging than we expected.”

McLaren head into the Las Vegas Grand Prix at the head of the constructors’ standings, with rivals Ferrari 36 points behind – while Norris needs to out-score Verstappen by three points to keep his hopes of claiming a first ever drivers’ title alive.