Las Vegas Grand Prix: Lando Norris takes pole in treacherous conditions, moves another step towards F1 title

Lando Norris has emerged from treacherous conditions during qualifying to secure a dominant pole for Saturday's Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Holding a 24-point lead over McLaren teammate and Championship rival Oscar Piastri, Norris knows that one more race victory could put him to the brink of a first Formula 1 title.

Despite the uncertainty brought about by the rain in Nevada, the Briton delivered an imposing pole as he finished 0.323 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen.

Piastri was more than a second adrift in fifth place and will know that he has his work cut out to post more points than Norris on the street circuit.

Carlos Sainz Jr and George Russell of Williams and Mercedes respectively will start on the second row, with RB's Liam Lawson joining Piastri behind them.

There was more despair for Ferrari as Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton could only qualify in ninth position and last, the latter unable to find any grip with his tyres.

Lando Norris tackles the tricky Quali conditions head-on, viewed through the visor cam! ?

? Las Vegas Strip Circuit#F1 #LasVegasGP pic.twitter.com/g3jsF92DFG

— Formula 1 (@F1) November 22, 2025

"That was stressful!"

Although Norris finished clear of the field, he acknowledged that qualifying had been far from comfortable with none of the drivers having raced on his track in wet conditions.

He said: "That was stressful, stressful as hell. I didn't know no-one else would get a lap after me. The first two sectors were good. As soon as you hit the kerb a little bit wrong it's tricky, it snapped one way and then the other but good enough for pole.

"No-one's driven here in the wet before. After Q1, every corner you felt like you could crash every corner. One lap at a time. It was a tricky one."

Meanwhile, Verstappen added: "It's already slippery in the dry, but in the wet it's not fun. It felt more like driving on ice.

"I did feel we were a little more competitive on the extreme tyre. We were not quite competitive enough to fight for pole but second is still good.

"Excited for tomorrow, I hope the inside [of the grid] is OK in terms of grip but we will see."

Verstappen sits 49 points behind Norris, essentially leaving the Red Bull driver requiring a race victory to remain in any sort of contention with just two more races left.