Lando Norris believes “experimenting” with his final stint last year might pay dividends for McLaren at Formula 1‘s Las Vegas Grand Prix this season.
Heading into the final three races of the season, Norris finds himself with a commanding lead in the Drivers’ Championship
The McLaren driver leads his team-mate Oscar Piastri by 24 points after a win at Interlagos last time out, with Max Verstappen another 25 points behind.
That said, while the form book would suggest Norris to build on his recent run of form, the Woking-based squad’s record in Las Vegas might endanger it.
Last year, both Norris and Piastri failed to make it into the top five during both qualifying and the race.
The Briton took the chequered flag in sixth – a mammoth 43 seconds behind eventual race winner George Russell.
Coming into the weekend, Norris has already conceded that he expects his rivals to have the upper hand on him.
“Apparently, I’m not allowed to say we’re not favourites anymore,” he told media including Motorsport Week, referencing the comments one journalist had made about his pessimism.
“So, from the last two years, it’s certainly been the hardest race of the year that we’ve had.
“So my expectations are not to the same level as Mexico, Brazil, where we’ve been performing very well for a good amount of years.
Despite this, Norris believes the team has made considerable strides forward with its overall package and addressing the issues that plagued it last season.
“But we’ve had an excellent year and we’ve improved in places that we’ve struggled in the past,” he added.
“So I’m certainly coming in with more confidence than in previous years, but not the same amount of confidence as going into the past few races that we’ve had.
“Expectations are still high. I’m still coming here to win and to want to repeat the last few weekends that I’ve had. But I think it’s going to be trickier for sure than the last couple.”
Norris reveals 2024 Las Vegas GP experiments
McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella is also optimistic about the MCL39’s chances on the iconic Vegas strip this time around.
The Italian cited Norris’ final stint of the race, last year, to make his case. When asked about his boss’ comments, Norris revealed his pace came out of a place of despair.
“I mean, because we were so bad, I just ended up trying as much stuff as I could. And it was more just – actually, I’m not going to say. I’m fighting for a lot, so I want to reveal the least amount possible,” he recollected.
“But I think we were so bad that you just get to a point where you try a lot. I mean, it’s probably not too difficult for people to figure out.
“But yeah, it’s a long race, a lot of laps, and we were struggling consistently with the same thing.”
The Briton highlighted how, towards the end of the race, his lap times were comparable to the front-runners.
But he is still wary of the fact that the car’s ultimate pace might not be enough for him to compete for the race win on pure merit.
“I was just experimenting with a lot – experimenting with my driving, with driving styles, approaches to the car, which is not always easy, trying to figure out how the car likes to get driven,” he revealed.
“Yeah, it took us to the end of the race, the final stint, to really try and figure out what was a bit better. We found pace.
“Like, even if you look at the race trace now, you can quite easily see the final stint from me was a lot more in line with Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes.
“I think Lewis’ [Hamilton] last stint last year was pretty incredible. So we’re still quite a long way off what the Mercedes was, but we looked more raceable, let’s say.
“It was just too little, too late. I think we’ve learned from that. Doesn’t mean this year’s going to be mega, but it’s certainly given us a direction to go in.
“So it’s more experimenting with different things. But I’m not going to tell you. So, yeah, you can try to figure it out.”
READ MORE – Why Lando Norris is ‘almost happier’ that he had a ‘pretty crappy’ start to 2025 F1 season
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