McLaren’s Lando Norris will start on pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix after mastering treacherous wet conditions in one of the most unpredictable qualifying sessions of the season. The Briton delivered a 1:47.934 in Q3 — a lap he later described as “stressful as hell”.
“It was stressful as hell” — Norris on his pole lap
Speaking after securing P1, Norris admitted he wasn’t sure whether anyone behind him would complete a proper lap:
“I didn’t know no one else was going to get a lap after me. I knew the first two sectors were good, but it’s so slippery out there.
As soon as you hit the kerb a little bit wrong like I did, you snap one way and almost lose the car the other way — close to hitting the wall, but good enough for P1 today.”
Norris said the weather played a major role, with rain turning the temporary Las Vegas street circuit into one of the toughest tests drivers have faced this season.
“Not the nicest of conditions, but I’m happy it stopped raining and we could get a good qualifying on.”
Norris reveals he was “taking a nap” before qualy
The McLaren star also revealed his surprise at waking up to rain minutes before qualifying:
“I was having a quick nap before qualifying and I was expecting it to be dry, but I woke up and saw that it was raining. I thought this isn’t going to go well.
No one has driven here in the rain before and it’s difficult to know what to expect.”
He added that every lap felt like it could end in a crash:
“After Q1 every corner felt like you could crash and it could easily be over. Q1, Q2 and Q3 were all tough.
More rewarding on a day like this because it was a tricky one.”
Looking ahead to race day
With Max Verstappen starting P2 and Carlos Sainz P3, Norris knows Sunday will be a massive challenge:
“Shoot from the hip — I’ve never said that before in my life.
The pace has been good all weekend. I knew it was good in the dry but didn’t expect to be good in the wet.”
But Norris expects an unpredictable Grand Prix:
“There’s a lot of unknowns tomorrow. No one has really done much high-fuel running — everyone’s done like 10-lap stints.
I’m sure it’s going to be an interesting race with Max and Carlos up there as well.
Hopefully we can have a good race tomorrow and everyone can enjoy it.”
