Lando Norris admits “worst on grid” weakness could ruin Las Vegas GP hopes

Lando Norris has admitted that a specific weakness could jeopardise his bid for a hat-trick of F1 victories.

Norris heads into this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix as the in-form driver. 

The British driver has won back-to-back races to move 24 points ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri.

However, this weekend is expected to be trickier for McLaren. 

Neither Norris nor Piastri have finished on the podium in Vegas during the last two years. 

The cold track temperatures, combined with long straights, haven’t suited the strengths of the McLaren package over the years.

It’s likely they will struggle again, given their performance in Montreal and Baku.

Speaking at the FIA press conference in Las Vegas, Norris conceded that his expectations aren’t as high as in Mexico or Brazil.

“Apparently I am not allowed to say we’re not favourites anymore,” Norris quipped.

“From the last two years it’s certainly been the hardest race of the year that we’ve had. My expectations are not to the same level as Mexico, Brazil, where we’ve been performing very well for a good amount of years. We’ve had an excellent year.

“We’ve improved in races which we have struggled in the past so I am coming in with more confidence than previous years but not the same amount of confidence going into the past few races that we’ve had. You never know.

“Expectations are still higher. I am still coming here to win and to want to repeat the last few weekends that I’ve had. I think it’s going to be trickier for sure than the last couple.”

Norris’ major weakness

Due to the low grip and cool track temperatures, drivers often suffer tyre graining. 

Tyre graining occurs when tyres run below their optimal working temperature, causing bits of rubber to come off and stick to the tyre, reducing overall grip.

In a remarkable admission, Norris revealed that he struggles more than anyone when front tyre graining is a factor – something that could hold him back this weekend.

“Now I am able to judge things better and work out these processes better,” Norris explained.

“Vegas is a whole different ball game in terms of cold, low grip. I always struggle a lot with front graining. I feel like I am the worst on the grid with it. Definitely better now.

“I definitely used to be the worst on the grid. I hate it. I hate understeer. I hate the front not working, those kinds of things, and it’s something that can happen a lot here and has done in the past.

“As long as I can combat those things I know those things very clearly. I know I have to work on them. Once you start the weekend like that you can be more confident. If I get out tomorrow in FP1 and FP2, and grain the fronts I am not going to be very happy when I come in.

“This is a different track altogether. Low downforce, long straights, difficult braking zones and difficult to be consistent and that’s never a nice thing for our car. We’ve changed a lot of stuff on our car for this year so we might turn out to be the best. Let’s wait and see.”