Lando Norris has admitted he is “not looking forward to” the Las Vegas Grand Prix, expressing concern McLaren could struggle again on the street circuit. Norris leads the Drivers’ Championship by 24 points over team-mate Oscar Piastri after wins in Mexico and Brazil, but is cautious ahead of the first of three consecutive season-ending races.
McLaren have found the Las Vegas Strip Circuit difficult since its 2023 addition to the calendar. Last year Norris finished sixth and Piastri seventh, despite McLaren going on to win the Constructors’ Championship. The evening sessions in Las Vegas take place under cooler conditions than most other events, and McLaren have had trouble getting their car working in those temperatures.
Asked whether the Las Vegas conditions would help or hinder McLaren, Norris said: “Hinder, for sure. I think it was our worst race last year, so I’m not really looking forward to it. We’ve been trying to work quite hard on improving those things. We know Mercedes were incredibly strong there last year, as well as Red Bull and Ferrari. I think we were the bottom of those four. So yeah, we’ll wait and see. Obviously, we’ve improved a lot of things this year, so I’m not going to be too negative about it. I think there’s plenty to look forward to. We know Abu Dhabi and Qatar are ones we are looking forward to. Las Vegas just a little bit less, because they’ve been probably some of our weakest races over the last two years. So let’s wait and see.”
After his win in Brazil, a journalist suggested Norris sounded overly negative; he defended his candour, saying: “I can say what I want. I can think what I want. I’d say what I always am is, I always try and be as honest as I can be. If I don’t think we’re going to be quick, I don’t think we’re going to be quick. And I’m not saying I’m going to be 10th. I’m just saying I think it’s going to be difficult to win. We were a long way off – just go and look at the data from last year. Look at the race traces – we were miles off.”
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella struck a more optimistic tone, saying the team learned from last year’s problems. “Vegas last year was one of the most difficult races,” Stella said. “We had difficulties with the behaviour of the tyres, as you say, and the behaviour of the tyres in qualifying, because we were not fast, and behaviour of the tyres in the race because we had a lot of graining. We also had some aerodynamic issues when we tried to offload the rear wing, we saw that we were losing too much efficiency, and we had a bit of issues with the setup of the car, in a way, trying to compensate this graining and some of the understeer.”
Stella added the review gave McLaren “a lot of information to try and find a way to improve” and that changes had been made in tyre management, aerodynamic efficiency and car setup. “Will it be enough to be competitive now? We will only see it in Vegas, but definitely we took actions in response to what we saw last year, because certainly the performance wasn’t satisfactory enough.”
Mercedes, who achieved a one-two in Las Vegas last year with George Russell winning from pole and Lewis Hamilton coming through from 10th, might be regarded as early favourites. But team principal Toto Wolff cautioned against assuming a repeat of their 2024 dominance. “I’ve said, ‘let’s just keep exactly the same car that we had last year, let’s not change it’. But unfortunately, that’s not the case anymore,” he said. “We’ve got to be very analytical of the car that we need for Las Vegas, what is the ambient and can really replicate that kind of performance [from last year], but I doubt it. We just need to go there open minded. It’s a new weekend and hopefully we perform well.”
Wolff pointed to Mercedes’ inconsistent 2025 form, noting they underperformed at venues where they had expected to contend and that recent victories had sometimes surprised the team. He warned against basing expectations on last year’s Las Vegas result, citing how performance can swing year to year. “In Brazil, for example, one year we dominated, the next one was nowhere,” he said. “So, I think I’m really looking forward to hitting the ground running in Las Vegas, and seeing what we can do there.”
Sky Sports F1’s Las Vegas GP schedule:
Thursday November 20
2am: Drivers’ Press Conference
5am: Paddock Uncut
Friday November 21
12am: Las Vegas GP Practice One (session starts at 12.30am)*
1.55am: F1 Academy Practice*
2.50am: Team Principals’ Press Conference
3.45am: Las Vegas GP Practice Two (session starts at 4am)*
5.25am: F1 Academy Qualifying*
6.10am: The F1 Show*
Saturday November 22
12.15am: Las Vegas GP Practice Three (session starts at 12.30am)*
2.10am: F1 Academy Race One*
3am: Las Vegas GP Qualifying build-up*
4am: LAS VEGAS GP QUALIFYING*
6am: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook*
Sunday November 23
12.15am: F1 Academy Race Two
2.30am: Grand Prix Sunday: Las Vegas GP build-up*
4am: THE LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX*
6am: Chequered Flag: Las Vegas GP reaction*
7am: Ted’s Notebook*
(*also live on Sky Sports Main Event)
Formula 1’s title race continues with the Las Vegas Grand Prix on November 21-23.