Tyre use, not car performance behind F1 Las Vegas Q1 exit

McLaren went into the inaugural race weekend around the streets of Vegas with muted expectations but, while similar pessimism proved unwarranted in Austin, Mexico or Brazil, it did turn out to be justified on the low-downforce street circuit.

Lando Norris was knocked out by former team-mate Daniel Ricciardo by a mere 0.020 seconds in Q1 to qualify 16th, while Oscar Piastri followed in 19th in what has been McLaren’s worst qualifying performance…