McLaren made a positive start to the F1 Las Vegas GP weekend, with the team demonstrating considerably improved pace in FP2, compared to their challenging visit to the circuit last season. Despite significant disruptions to Friday’s second practice session, both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri highlighted encouraging signs for the remainder of the weekend.
Norris topped the timesheets in FP2, a session severely hampered by two red flags due to track maintenance issues. The championship leader emphasised the team’s progress from opening practice to the second session, noting that they have made tangible improvements to the car’s feel compared to 2024.
“Always tricky here,” Norris reflected on the Las Vegas circuit. “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.”
The British driver acknowledged the competitive nature of the field at the tight street circuit, where numerous drivers failed to complete meaningful running due to the red flags that plagued the session. Nevertheless, Norris made solid progress between the two practice sessions and felt satisfied with it.
“I think it’s pretty tight between a lot of people and many people didn’t even get their laps in,” Norris explained. “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.”
When questioned about his expectations for the remainder of the weekend, Norris was characteristically ambitious. “I mean, we’re just fighting for poles,” he stated.
From struggle to progress for McLaren in F1 Las Vegas GP FP2
While FP1 saw McLaren struggling relative to the top teams, with Norris finishing 12th after clipping the wall and abandoning push laps, the team showed significant improvement during FP2. Piastri had remained in the garage during the opening session as the team trialled new components, but both drivers showed considerably better pace in the second hour.
However, Piastri’s FP2 was severely limited by the red flags and disruptions. The Australian completed just two laps during the entire session and classified in 14th, making it difficult to assess his true position relative to competitors.
Despite the frustrating lack of running, Piastri remained upbeat about the team’s prospects and the positive signs evident during the limited time on track.
“I think FP1 was pretty good,” Piastri said. “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. Difficult to know exactly where we sit.”
Piastri acknowledged that whilst the car’s pace appeared promising, the limited soft tyre running across the grid made definitive conclusions impossible at this stage.
“I think clearly the car’s got decent pace, but not that many people got a great run on the softs. A little bit difficult to know exactly where we sit, but still plenty of positives I think, plenty of things to look through overnight,” Piastri explained.
A question on progress
When asked whether McLaren had made progress compared to last year—a weekend that proved to be one of the team’s most challenging of the season—Piastri was optimistic, though he cautioned against drawing too many conclusions given the disrupted nature of Friday’s running.
“I think so, yes,” he responded. “Again, it’s just very difficult to know because obviously it was a bit wet at the start, the track was evolving a lot, so it’s just difficult to know exactly where everyone sits. I think we changed a few things into FP2 which seemed to feel pretty good. We’ll try and do some more tweaking overnight and see what we’ve got.”
Piastri brushed off the limited data from Friday as he looked ahead to Saturday’s third practice session and qualifying, acknowledging that the Las Vegas circuit typically undergoes significant changes as the weekend progresses.
“I feel okay,” Piastri said. “Would I have loved some more laps? Yes, but I think the track is going to continue to change quite a bit through the rest of the weekend. We’ll see what kind of weather we’ve got tomorrow, what we get here, and we’ll take it from there.”
With Norris topping FP2’s timesheets and both drivers expressing confidence in the team’s progress, McLaren will look to capitalise on their improved form during Saturday’s remaining practice session before the crucial qualifying battle.
