Every time this Formula 1 season seemed to be heading in a certain direction, there was a twist in the story that created uncertainty and excitement.
At the start of the year, an exciting battle between three drivers seemed possible, after which Oscar Piastri took the championship by the scruff of the neck and opened a 34-point lead over Lando Norris when the Briton withdrew in Zandvoort.
The end of the European season had the feel of a title fight gone nowhere, before Max Verstappen’s resurgence almost turned hopes for a three-horse race into anticipation. But all the while, Norris had found consistency and added that to McLaren’s strong performances in Mexico City and Sao Paulo to secure a strong lead in the championship.
Now, with pole position achieved in wet conditions in Las Vegasand teammate Piastri in fifth place, Norris has some strong cards in his hand that could see him leave Sin City on Saturday night almost ready to cash in his chips.
While that is still a ‘possible’, it is still a stronger position than Norris expected when he arrived this weekend, as he has found a McLaren that has been stronger everywhere this year than last.
“Every corner, every straight, every bump,” said Norris after taking pole position. “I proved myself wrong… expectations were quite low this weekend, even on Wednesday at the press conference. I wasn’t expecting too much. But they certainly weren’t high.”
“So for us to show good performance [on Thursday]as well as in practice before some of the problems we had [in FP3] I was already feeling pretty good and was confident that if it was a dry qualifying, we would have a challenge. It would be tight, but we could challenge for pole.
“So when I woke up from my nap before qualifying, I wasn’t too happy to see that it was raining, because it’s always a little bit more chaos. And I’ve never been the most confident over the course of this year – especially in the beginning – in these conditions, with the car. It can be quite tricky at times. But from the first lap I actually felt quite good in the car, and that turned out to be a good result.”
Wet weather was not what Norris wanted, but he felt his McLaren was well suited to it this time. Clive Mason/Getty Images
Norris admitted qualifying was “hugely stressful” given the wet conditions on what is already a low-grip track, but perhaps a sign of the comfort he can enjoy in his current position – 24 points ahead of Piastri – he rarely looked under pressure, then delivered a clean pole lap by more than 0.3 seconds at the end of his run.
Despite sitting five places between the main title rivals, Norris says the weather of the Las Vegas weekend so far means there are still a number of unknowns heading into the race.
“I don’t think I’ve done more than four laps in a row,” said Norris. “So I have no idea about stints and stuff like that. Lots of questions, probably for everyone. I’m sure not many people have driven the hard tire so I don’t really know.”
“The pace was strong. It was better than last year, that’s for sure. So I expect to fight up there, but with Max, with Carlos.” [Sainz, starting third]they could both be good opportunities for them.
“It’s going to be a long race. A lot can happen. When it’s dry, it’s obviously a bit easier for everyone, I think. But I’m in the best position I can be.”
The outsider in the title battle, Verstappen, rises from second place on Saturday evening and poses the most direct threat to Norris from the front row. But the defending champion has never felt in contention for pole position and says the few signs he has so far of running dry are not filling him with confidence either.
“It’s a little hard to say [if Red Bull will be competitive in the dry] – we didn’t really have a good long run,” said Verstappen. “In FP1 I did a little bit, which wasn’t quite to my liking. So I hope that with the changes we’ve made since then, things will be a little better. But I don’t expect it to be great. I hope we get a chance to do well.”
However, Norris is taking nothing for granted when it comes to the threat of Verstappen, even as the Dutchman tries to play down his chances.
“I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to it,” said the McLaren driver. “He is fast and if you expect anything less, you don’t know what he is capable of, so I expect 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 out and win. So I make sure I can do everything I can. But it’s still step by step – get a good start, a good opening lap, that kind of thing – and go from there.”
A good start from pole would likely make life much easier for Norris, and Piastri knows that if he wants to avoid losing any more ground, he will have to make rapid progress himself. After having to abandon his final lap due to yellow flags and finishing fifth, the Australian accepts that Norris’ starting position further complicates his own title hopes.
“Yes, that’s true, but it’s Las Vegas after all, so a lot can happen,” Piastri said. “We’ve seen some pretty entertaining racing here over the last few years, a lot of action, so hopefully I can get myself on the right side of that action and make up some ground.
“It’s hard to know exactly where anyone is because of the lack of a good race this weekend, but I think the car has been quite fast in all conditions. It was fast in the rain, and then fast on a dry surface. [Practice was] I haven’t had many chances to use it, so I think we have good pace and hopefully we can use that to move forward.”
There are still fifty laps to go and all the cards are yet to be dealt when it comes to this weekend’s race and the championship in general. But after seeing the flop, you might now want it in Norris’s hands, and the championship leader just has to choose how aggressive he wants his next bet to be.
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