'Stressful as hell' – Norris reflects on third consecutive pole position after wet Las Vegas Qualifying

Lando Norris admits that achieving pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix was "stressful as hell" after overcoming treacherous conditions in Qualifying and moving one step closer to a maiden Drivers' World Championship.

The achievement marks Norris' third consecutive pole position, having previously gone on to take victory in both Mexico City and Sao Paulo which has helped the Briton to a 24-point lead over McLaren team mate and title rival Oscar Piastri in the standings.

Drivers were faced with their first wet running at the Las Vegas street circuit since it was introduced on the calendar in 2023, with Norris only finishing P13 in the opening Q1 segment when conditions were at their worst.

But Norris came to the fore when it mattered most, posting a 1m 47.934s which left him three-tenths clear of Red Bull's Max Verstappen ahead of the 50-lap race.

"It was stressful, stressful as hell! I didn’t know no-one else was going to get a lap after me," said Norris.

"I felt like the first two sectors were good but it’s so slippery out there. As soon as you hit the kerb a little bit wrong like I did, you snap one way, you lose the car the other way, close to hitting the wall but good enough for P1 today.

"Not the nicest of conditions but I’m happy it stopped raining and we could get a good Qualifying.

"You need a good car to do it first of all. The team did a good job. To be honest I was having a little nap before Quali and I was expecting it to be dry.

"I woke up and I saw it was raining and I thought, ‘Oh c***, this is not going to go well!’.

"No-one’s ever driven around here in the rain before, it’s difficult to know what to expect, and after Q1 every corner you felt like you could crash and it could easily be over.

"One step at a time – Q1, Q2, Q3, all tough, so more rewarding a day like this because it was a tricky one."

Las Vegas has been a venue where McLaren has struggled previously and disrupted running for all teams in Free Practice 2 due to stoppages means race pace throughout the field remains far from certain.

Despite generally being the dominant package in 2025, Norris is wary of his chances in the race even if conditions are expected to be dry.

"The pace has been good all weekend. I think it was going to be good in the dry, I honestly didn’t expect to be as good as I was then in the wet," added Norris.

"Very happy with that, but there’s a lot of unknowns tomorrow. No-one’s really done much high-fuel running, no-one’s really done more than a 10-lap stint. I’m sure it’s going to be an interesting race, especially with Max up there."