Norris eyes Vegas prize but weighs question of risk v reward

The conflict in Lando Norris’ mind as he closes on his first world title was clear after he took pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Norris expertly navigated the treacherous wet conditions on a track almost devoid of grip to take pole position from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by a margin of 0.323 seconds – a gap that could have been significantly larger had the Briton not had a major wobble through the chicane at the end of the Strip on his fastest lap.

Norris goes into the race 24 points ahead of McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, who starts fifth, and 49 clear of Verstappen. All year, as the championship has unfolded, he has insisted he is taking the season one race at a time, and not changing his approach.

But in the post-qualifying news conference, it seemed he was already weighing the question of risk versus reward, with Verstappen, renowned for his aggressive approach to starts, alongside him with much less to lose.

Norris said: «I’m here to win. I’m not here to not take risks. I still want to go out and win. So I’ll be making sure I can do everything that I can.

«But it’s still one step at a time – get a good start, good opening lap, that kind of thing – and just go from there.»

The prize on offer for Norris in the grand prix on Saturday night in Sin City (04:00 GMT on Sunday) is obvious, even for someone trying not to think about it.

Win the race, and he can put himself on the brink of the title.

The Briton is already nearly a clear win ahead of Piastri in the championship. If he pulls further clear, he can go to Qatar next weekend in a position to clinch the title with one race still to go.

Verstappen is pretty much out of contention already, given the size of his deficit. But if Norris can gain nine points on the Dutchman – not easy, with seven between a win and second place – then the Red Bull driver will no longer mathematically be able to win the title.

Still Norris is trying to think only of the immediate task ahead, and the threat Verstappen poses for victory, and more immediately, on the run to the first corner.

The four-time champion is on the inside line, and if he runs true to form may well try to push Norris wide on the entry to claim the lead, as he did with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the inaugural race here in 2023.

«He’s been quick and if you expect anything less, then you don’t know what he’s capable of,» Norris said. «So yeah, I expect a battle. I expect a battle through the whole race.»

Norris’ pole was one of the most satisfying of his career. The conditions were extremely difficult.

The track lacks grip in the dry, run as it is on normal roads with the sheen caused by millions of cars driving on them throughout the year.

This race had never been wet before, and the combination of water and the already slippery track meant that the ‘extreme wet’ tyres were used in both the first two sessions.

Norris had looked quick all weekend, but did not especially shine when the track was at its wettest, although never looked in any significant danger of not progressing.

But once the track was dry enough for intermediates in the final session, Norris was the pace-setter.

His last lap was a stunner until his little moment late on, to the extent that McLaren team principal Andrea Stella called it «exceptional».

Norris said these were «some of the worst» conditions he had ever experienced.

«It’s been wetter,» he said. «It’s just, it feels like you may as well have been out on slicks, to be honest, it was so slippery, difficult.

«The amount of wheel spin you have in places, how easy it was to lock tyres, the white lines, the yellow lines – just everything was pretty tough.

«Some bits felt actually OK, some bits felt just shockingly slippery and difficult to manage, to control the car. So, even more satisfied with the end result because of how tricky it was out there.»

As for his team-mate, things are just not going for him at the moment.

Piastri had a championship lead turned into a large deficit over just two races in Mexico and Brazil, one where he was just not competitive, and one where he crashed in the sprint and then was given a controversial penalty in the grand prix.

He was lucky to progress into the final session – a wrong choice of tyres from Aston Martin hampered Lance Stroll, who had been competitive and might otherwise have knocked Piastri out.

But the Australian felt strong in the final session in Las Vegas, only to come across a yellow flag on his final run and have to back off. Fifth was a disappointment, with his team-mate on pole.

He could hardly not admit that it made his task of recovering points and trying to keep the title alive even more difficult.

«Yes,» Piastri said. «Yes, it does. But it’s Las Vegas after all, so a lot can happen.

«We’ve seen pretty entertaining races here the last couple of years, a lot of action, so hopefully I can get myself involved on the right side of that action and make up some ground.»

Stella has been on both the winning and losing end of title fights – with Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso at Ferrari. And he long ago learned not to take anything for granted.

It is his wisdom that has led McLaren to the position in which they currently find themselves, and it will be his guidance that Norris takes into the race.

«We do take one race at a time, one session at a time, one start at a time,» Stella said, «and I think Lando has been doing this very well recently, starting from pole position.

«So he just has to keep doing what he’s been doing with confidence, with good preparation, with the smoothest possible execution.

«We know that the grip is going to be very low with the cold tyres into corner one, corner three.

«For me, it’s just important that we have a smooth race and that we are in condition to express the potential that we have. A clean first lap and a clean race is what we look forward to.»