Lando Norris unhappy with McLaren’s pace in free practice

The Briton managed to reach the top 3 during the FP1 and FP2 on the Las Vegas circuit, improving his lap times by more than two seconds during the evening. In the second session, Lando Norris was only 0.011 seconds off the fastest time of the day set by Lewis Hamilton. However, he is not yet convinced of the pace of his McLaren, before tomorrow’s qualifying.

With cold track temperatures and a dusty surface that evolves with each lap, several factors will need to be taken into account by the leaders if they want to fight for pole position.

After working on qualification simulations and long relays, Norris summarized: « I think the performances with little fuel were okay. With a lot of fuel, it was shocking. There are a lot of things to analyze, combinations of factors and what we struggle to manage, like front graining. I’m simply not very good at that level. »

« It’s always a little difficult for me, but we still have time to work on it. It’s really two sides: good performance with little fuel and difficulties with a lot of fuel. It’s just very complicated, with extremely low grip. I feel like I could drive a road car faster than we are currently going.

Questioned further about the margins of maneuver when it comes to managing tire graining, the Briton explained: “It can be. If I knew how, I would probably do it! But even knowing, it’s not an easy thing to apply, because it’s always a weak point for me.”

I will look into it and see what I can improve. For now, I will probably focus more on high fuel performances than on low fuel performances. Of course, qualifying well and being in the front always helps with everything else. Many things to analyze tonight.

Oscar Piastri confident

His teammate, Oscar Piastri, also encountered difficulties in completing a perfect lap, finishing both Thursday sessions in eighth position.

« It was complicated, very similar to last year, I would say,” declared the Australian after the second free practice session. « With each lap, the track improves more and more. This time, at least we knew what to expect.

« It was an interesting day. I think the pace seems reasonable, but we just need to fine-tune it a bit. If you miss a turn here, you quickly lose a lot of time due to the changing track conditions. There are still many positive points, but we need to refine them.

Mercedes was very fast today, really very fast. Ferrari was also quite strong, but I think we are clearly in the mix. Mercedes had a pretty strong day, but we’ll see what happens tomorrow.

Everything is still to be played out during the last free practice session in order to find the keys to be well positioned for the race on Sunday. One of the keys to the weekend will undoubtedly be tire management.