McLaren pushed out of top 5 in Las Vegas for first time in 10 months

To McLaren, these qualifications for the Las Vegas Grand Prix have above all highlighted the team's difficulties. Whether it is Lando Norris ou Oscar piastri, the Oranges really suffered, never being able to control the conditions despite an MCL38 which always seemed in the running in testing.

Yet when it came to raising their voices, the Woking clan failed to deliver and stand up to Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull et Max Verstappen, and even to the surprise of Pierre Gasly its Alpine. Thus, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished qualifying in 6th and 8th positions. Far, very far, from their ambitions as the Top 5 on Saturday escaped them for the first time since the opening round in Bahrain last February!

The training led by Zak Brown quickly identified the first concerns, notably the inability to put together a clean lap from start to finish. It was just very difficult, we had difficulties all weekend, lamented a grey-faced Lando Norris.

Maybe the lap times don’t really reflect it, but I think we knew from the beginning of the weekend that we were in a bit of trouble. Just putting in a clean lap was just too difficult for us. You try to put in a good lap time, but at the same time, as soon as you push a bit too much, you have another problem and it’s a problem you’ve never had before, so it becomes too complicated to drive. There were laps in practice where I was at 99% and I was like, “Ah, that was a good lap,” but the chances of repeating it every time were too slim. (in qualifying). "When it doesn't want to, it doesn't want to.

Lando Norris and McLaren will try to catch up from 7:00 this Sunday at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

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