Oscar Piastri continued to express caution from McLaren over its chances of victory in Formula 1‘s Las Vegas Grand Prix, despite Lando Norris topping FP2.
The Woking-based squad has, in the build-up to this weekend’s race, been somewhat optimistic that it can compete for honours this time around, after a disappointing showing at the corresponding race last year.
Both Piastri and Norris’ MCL39s were off the pace in FP1, with Norris topping the session in FP2, as Piastri finished in 14th, but could only manage just two laps in a session halted by two red flags.
The Australian was left unsure of the car’s true potential around the Las Vegas Strip Circuit as a result, but felt the FP1 showing was enough to feel somewhat confident.
“FP1 was pretty good,” he said. “There are some things to work on, but overall, I felt like it was a pretty good session.
“FP2, I did two laps for the whole session, so difficult to know exactly where we sit.
“Clearly, the car has got decent pace but not that many people got a great run on the Soft. It’s a little bit difficult to know exactly where we sit.
“Still, plenty of positives and plenty of things to look through overnight.”
Norris predicts ‘pretty tight’ battle for victory in Las Vegas GP
Norris could sense an improvement from the car immediately, but believes that the battle for supremacy in Sin City will be wide.
“Always tricky here,” he said. “I think we have a better feeling in the car than what we had last year. So, that’s a positive, and that was felt, I would say, already like lap one of today.
“So, some good feelings, of course, not a lot of running in the end, not really any high fuel running, but the pace clearly is there.
“I think it’s pretty tight between a lot of people, and many people didn’t even get their laps in.
“So, apart from that, yeah, I think we made some steps forward from FP1 to FP2, and hopefully we can just do some more from FP2 to FP3.”
READ MORE – Lando Norris fastest in chaotic FP2 for F1 Las Vegas GP
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