Lando Norris Reveals Near Disaster En Route To Las Vegas GP Pole

Lando Norris’ Las Vegas GP pole almost came at a hefty price after nearly crashing out on his final run.

The McLaren driver faced early trouble in Q1 when he could have been knocked out at the first hurdle, but pulled through to eventually earn his seventh pole of the season in dominant fashion, with a stunning lap time of 1.47.934 seconds.

Lando Norris pinpoints slippery track surface as the reason for nearly crashing

The unpredictable and treacherous conditions created plenty of drama, with varying amounts of standing water across different parts of the Las Vegas strip.

As conditions improved at the start of Q2 with the rain disappearing, all drivers except Williams driver Alex Albon avoided the walls. Norris emerged unscathed despite noticeable snaps of oversteer on his MCL39, but he revealed just how close he came to losing his shot at pole.

"Boy, that was stressful. Stressful as hell," he reflected post-race. “I had a nap before qualifying, and I was expecting it to be dry and I woke up and saw it was wet.

LANDO ON POLE POSITION IN VEGAS! 👏👏

It's a mega lap from the championship leader in hugely tricky conditions 🤯#F1 #LasVegasGP pic.twitter.com/QgPWdcCNby
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 22, 2025

“I thought: ‘Oh crap, this is not going to well’. It is so easy to crash when it is like this so it is rewarding to be on pole."I didn't know no one else was gonna get a lap after me, so I knew I felt like the first two sectors were good.

"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," he added, sharing how nearly crashed out on his final run.

MORE: F1 Qualifying Results At The Las Vegas Grand Prix 2025

On his final run, Norris posted a blistering lap to take pole by three-tenths of a second, despite being a full second up before even reaching the final sector.

"But good enough. Good enough for P1 today. So, not the nicest of conditions, but I'm happy it stopped raining and we could get a good qualifying on."

Lando Norris to head the field in Las Vegas GP

Norris will start from the best seat in the house on Saturday's Grand Prix, closely followed by Red Bull's Max Verstappen as the pair lock out the front row of the grid.

Notably, Norris’ closest title challenger, teammate Oscar Piastri, could manage only fifth place, putting the British driver in prime position to extend his 24-point lead in the championship.

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