Every time this F1 season has seemed to be heading in a certain direction, there have been twists in the story that create uncertainty and excitement.
At the start of the year it looked like a close race between the three drivers would be possible, but Oscar Piastri won the championship by a neck and had a 34-point lead over Lando Norris when he retired at Zandvoort.
At the end of the European season, it seemed as though the title race had disappeared, but with the return of Max Verstappen, expectations of a three-horse race have all but turned into expectations. But all the while, Norris has found consistency and added that to McLaren’s strong performances in Mexico City and Sao Paulo, securing a strong lead in the championship.
now, Pole position achieved in wet conditions in Las Vegasand with teammate Piastri dropping to fifth place, Norris has plenty of strong cards in hand and is almost ready to cash in his chips, potentially leaving Sin City on Saturday night.
That’s still a “possibility”, but it’s still a stronger position than Norris expected to arrive this weekend. Because he found this year’s McLaren to be more powerful everywhere compared to last year.
“Every corner, every straight, every bump,” Norris said after taking pole position. “I proved myself wrong… My expectations were pretty low going into this weekend, even in the press conference on Wednesday. I didn’t have high expectations. But they weren’t high by any means.”
“So for us to put in a good performance[on Thursday]we were already feeling pretty good in practice before we had some problems[in FP3]and were confident that if it was a dry qualifying, we would be able to challenge. It will be tough, but we have a chance to challenge for pole.”
“So when I woke up from my nap before qualifying and saw it was raining, I wasn’t too happy, because it’s always a bit confusing. And throughout the year, especially in the beginning, I haven’t had the most confidence in the car in these conditions. It can get pretty tricky at times. But from the first lap, the car actually felt pretty good, and that made for a good result.”
The wet weather was not what Norris had hoped for, but this time the McLaren proved suitable for the wet weather. Clive Mason/Getty Images
Norris admitted that qualifying was “hellishly stressful” considering the wet conditions on the track with low grip to begin with, but perhaps a sign of the comfort he enjoys in his current position, 24 points behind Piastri, he showed little signs of being under pressure, producing a clean pole lap that gave him a lead of more than 0.3 seconds towards the end of the run.
Norris says that despite the five-place difference between the main title rivals, the weather-dependent nature of the Las Vegas weekend so far means there are still many unknowns in the race.
“I don’t think I’ve done more than four laps in a row,” Norris said. “So I don’t know anything about stints and things like that. There’s probably a lot of questions for everyone. I don’t think a lot of people have run hard tires, so I don’t really know.”
“The pace is good, it was certainly better than last year, so I expect to fight there, but with Max and Carlos (Sainz, starting third), both of them might be able to push for a good chance.”
“It’s going to be a long race. A lot can happen. Of course, in the dry I think it’s a little bit easier for everyone. But I’m in the best position possible.”
Verstappen, an outsider in the title race, moved up from second place on Saturday night and is Norris’ most immediate threat once he is out of the front row. However, the defending champion says he has never felt that way while fighting for pole position, and some of the signs he’s gotten from dry running so far don’t give him confidence.
“It’s a little difficult to say (whether Red Bull is competitive in the dry). We haven’t done any proper long runs,” Verstappen said. “I did a little bit in FP1, but it wasn’t completely to my liking. So I’m hoping that with the changes I’ve made since then, I can get a little bit better. But I’m not expecting it to be great. I hope I have a chance to do well.”
But Norris is not taking Verstappen’s threat for granted, despite the Dutchman’s attempts to downplay his chances.
“I’m looking forward to it. I’m excited,” said the McLaren driver. “He was fast and if I expected anything less, I don’t know what he’s capable of. So I’m expecting a battle throughout the race.”
“But at the same time, I’m here to win. I’m not here to not take risks, but I still want to go win. So I’m going to make sure I do everything I can. But it’s still one step at a time. Things like getting a good start and having a good opening lap. And we’ll just go from there.”
A good start from pole position will make life much easier for Norris, and Piastri knows he needs to move up quickly in order to avoid dropping further. After having his final lap halted due to yellow flags and finishing fifth, the Australian accepted that Norris’ starting position would further complicate his title hopes.
“That’s true, but at the end of the day this is Las Vegas and a lot of things can happen,” Piastri said. “We’ve seen some pretty interesting racing here in recent years and a lot of action, so hopefully we can get on the right side of that action and regain some ground.
“It’s hard to know exactly who’s sitting where this weekend because we haven’t had a proper race, but I think the car was pretty fast in all conditions. It was fast in the rain, it was fast in the dry. (Practice) was the same or similar. I haven’t had a lot of opportunities to use it, so I think I have good pace and I hope I can use that to move forward.”
With 50 laps still to go, all the cards are still not dealt in terms of this weekend’s race and the championship as a whole. But the flop makes you want to bet on Norris right now. The championship leader then has to choose how aggressive to make their next bet.
