Lando Norris has cautioned that McLaren may face significant challenges at the upcoming Las Vegas Grand Prix, despite his back-to-back victories in Mexico and Brazil that extended his championship lead to 24 points over teammate Oscar Piastri.
Norris was candid when asked whether the cold night conditions in Las Vegas might play to McLaren&rsquo;s advantage this year. 
&ldquo;Hinder, for sure. I think it was our worst race last year, so I&rsquo;m not really looking forward to it,&rdquo; he told Sky Sports.
McLaren struggled noticeably at the Las Vegas circuit in 2023, where Norris finished sixth and Piastri seventh. 
The low temperatures and slippery surface highlighted weaknesses that the team has since attempted to improve.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been trying to work quite hard on improving those things,&rdquo; Norris said. 
&ldquo;We know Mercedes were incredibly strong there last year, as well as Red Bull and Ferraris. I think we were the bottom of those four. So yeah, we&rsquo;ll wait and see.&rdquo;
Responding to suggestions that his remarks sounded overly negative, Norris defended his honesty. 
&ldquo;I can say what I want. I can think what I want. I&rsquo;d say what I always am is, I always try and be as honest as I can be. If I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;re going to be quick, I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;re going to be quick.&rdquo;
He clarified that he was not expecting a disastrous weekend but anticipated difficulty in fighting for a win. 
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not saying I&rsquo;m going to be 10th. I&rsquo;m just saying I think it&rsquo;s going to be difficult to win. We were a long way off, just go and look at the data from last year. Look at the race traces, we were miles off.&rdquo;
Norris added that the team is more optimistic about upcoming races. 
&ldquo;We know Abu Dhabi and Qatar are ones we are looking forward to. Las Vegas just a little bit less, because they&rsquo;ve probably been some of our weakest races over the last two years.&rdquo;
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella agreed that last year&rsquo;s Las Vegas race exposed several issues, including tyre behaviour, aerodynamic balance and graining. 
&ldquo;The review from Vegas last year gave us a lot of information to try and find a way to improve&hellip; from a tyre point of view, from an aerodynamic efficiency point of view, and from a car set up point of view, we know in which direction we should change compared to last year.&rdquo;
However, Stella cautioned that improvements are not guaranteed. 
&ldquo;Will it be enough to be competitive now? We will only see it in Vegas, but definitely we took actions&hellip; the performance wasn&rsquo;t satisfactory enough.&rdquo;
Mercedes dominated the event in 2024, with George Russell taking pole and victory ahead of Lewis Hamilton, but team principal Toto Wolff downplayed the chances of repeating that performance. 
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve said, "let&rsquo;s just keep exactly the same car that we had last year, let&rsquo;s not change it". But unfortunately, that&rsquo;s not the case anymore,&rdquo; he joked.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to be very analytical of the car that we need for Las Vegas&hellip; but I doubt it,&rdquo; he added, pointing to the challenge of matching last year&rsquo;s result with a different package.
&mdash;IANS

McLaren braces for difficult Las Vegas weekend as Norris tempers expectations

Norris Warns Of Tough Weekend At Vegas GP

McLaren braces for difficult Las Vegas weekend as Norris tempers expectations

November 17, 2025 | 16:41 IST