F1 News: Lando Norris Speaks Out On "Painful" Las Vegas GP Qualifying

Lando Norris reflects on his 16th position finish during the Las Vegas GP qualifying.

In an interview with Sky Sports F1, Lando Norris expressed his disappointment after a challenging qualifying session for the Las Vegas Grand Prix. The McLaren driver, who qualified in 16th position, described the experience as "painful," highlighting the narrow margins in Formula 1 and his struggles with the car on this particular circuit.

Key Takeaways:

• Norris emphasised the close competition in F1, noting that a mere two-tenths of a second cost him five positions. This gap, he suggested, could have been bridged with minor improvements, illustrating the fine line between success and disappointment in the sport.
• The McLaren driver candidly admitted to struggling with the car's setup specifically for the Las Vegas circuit. This difficulty in adapting the car to the track's demands significantly hampered his performance, preventing him from advancing beyond the first qualifying session.
• Norris reflected on the strategic choices made during qualifying, pondering whether an additional pit stop for new soft tyres might have altered his fortunes. He also pointed out the team's misjudgment in gauging their early pace relative to other competitors, which led to a false sense of security.

Lando Norris, speaking after a disappointing qualifying session, opened up about the challenges he faced during the run-up to the Las Vegas Grand Prix. 

"It's not a surprise just because it's very close and when you're not quite comfortable and maybe one or two tenths off then it makes a difference," Norris said.

Reflecting on the small margins that define success in the sport, he added:

"Two tenths was between me and five positions. If a couple things came together it could be like 'not a bad day'.

"Just been struggling with the car on this circuit. It's painful we didn't even get through to Q2.

"I don't think we necessarily did anything wrong. Should we have maybe done a pit stop and put a new set of softs on? Potentially, but a tough decision to make in the middle of qualifying.

"We got up to speed quickly, I think both myself and Oscar got up to speed very quickly and extracted a lot out of the car early on whereas everyone else got quicker and quicker and built up to it a bit more which gave us the wrong perception early on in the session."