There will be more questions than answers for McLaren ahead of Saturday afternoon’s qualifying (3pm AEDT) after Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished 20th and 19th respectively in the final practice session in Las Vegas.
An unpredictable session ended with George Russell (1:34.054) on top, with Max Verstappen in second 0.227s behind and Alex Albon in third.
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Norris had been starting to find his groove and was putting a lap together as he went fastest through the middle sector but just as everything was starting to look good, he pulled into the pits with suspected telemetry issues.
The same went for Piastri, meaning both McLaren drivers missed the best of the track conditions after a damp start to Saturday’s final practice session.
With more rain forecast for qualifying, there could be much of the same later in the afternoon after the majority of drivers spent FP3 on intermediate tyres before switching late to slicks.
But unfortunately for McLaren, they were unable to benefit from the improving and drying track.
“It’s not nice going into qualifying like McLaren are,” Jenson Button said on Sky Sports F1’s coverage.
“The reasons they are P19 and P20 is because they had telemetry issues… but it’s still not nice going into qualifying knowing they had issues going into it.”
TALKING POINTS: Vegas qualifying mystery looms after latest chaos as Piastri left in the dark
Piastri trying to close gap in Las Vegas | 00:45
Piastri was first onto the track on Saturday, reporting it was “too wet” for dry tyres and later telling his team that his tyre was “starting to die already”.
“But it’d be very nervous on the slicks,” he added.
Eventually, Norris gave it a go as the McLaren driver became the first onto the soft dry tyres with the team radars suggesting rain could be on the way.
“Remember, zero risk,” Norris was reminded over the team radio, although the championship leader almost went into the barriers at one point in a close call.
McLaren chief executive Zak Brown later told Sky Sports F1 the team wanted to see if the track was ready for slicks, only to get a very clear answer.
“I don’t think it is,” Brown said.
“Still too many corners you’ve got to be cautious on… we think more rain is coming in the next five minutes so we wanted to get some slick running in before then.”
Piastri, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Yuki Tsunoda soon joined Norris in giving the softs a go before the first major moment of the practice session saw Hamilton almost collide with a slew of cars late in his lap.
Liam Lawson would have taken the brunt of the damage but Hamilton, who was approaching at an incredibly fast speed, did well to avoid the collision as he went down the run-off before rejoining.
Unlike Friday’s two practice sessions, there wasn’t nearly as much drama on Saturday, although Verstappen was left frustrated after looking set to go fastest on his final flying lap before being caught by slower cars ahead of him at the end of the back straight.
“F***ing idiots, they just stay on the racing line — I had to go onto the wet,” Verstappen complained over team radio.
Qualifying for Sunday’s Las Vegas Grand Prix is at 3pm AEDT.
FINAL PRACTICE RESULTS
1. George Russell (Mercedes) 1:34.054
2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.227
3. Alex Albon (Williams) +0.821
4. Isack Hadjar (RB) +1.115
5. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +1.215
6. Kimi Antontelli (Mercedes) +1.331
7. Liam Lawson (RB) +1.385
8. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +1.479
9. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +1.486
10. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.506
11. Ollie Bearman (Haas)
12. Carlos Sainz (Williams)
13. Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)
14. Esteban Ocon (Has)
15. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
16. Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
17. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
18. Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)
19. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
20. Lando Norris (McLaren)
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