“Extreme” changes cured McLaren’s lack of race pace

The Las Vegas Grand Prix looked like being McLaren’s least competitive outing since the Japanese Grand Prix back in April.

Two-thirds of the way through the race, at which point the front-runners had all completed their first two pit stops, the leading McLaren of Lando Norris was already the best part of half a minute of eventual winner George Russell in his Mercedes.

At this point there was little reason to expect Norris’s day would improve significantly. His pace dropped off alarmingly early in his opening stint on the medium compound tyres and the hard rubber proved little better in his second stint. As the end of that stint neared he was lapping over a second slower than Russell, and well off Max Verstappen and the Ferrari drivers disputing third place.

But Norris’s third stint was significantly more competitive. Within a few laps he was quicker than Verstappen and he was soon gaining on the Ferrari drivers as well.

As the stint wore on Norris was the fastest driver on-track at times. Team principal Andrea Stella said McLaren tried some drastic changes when Norris replaced his hard tyres, which paid off.

“Coming to Vegas we expected it to be a bit of a struggle,” he told Sky after the race. “This concern materialised in qualifying and in the race.

“In the race, in the first two stints, we were just fighting front graining. There was no way that we could stop this phenomenon happening.

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Lando Norris, McLaren, Las Vegas Strip Circuit, 2024 — Norris’s car came alive in the third stint

“But in the final [hard tyre] stint a combination of various things, including also some changes, quite extreme, that we did with some toys on the car and driving style, the graining didn’t happen on Lando’s car and the pace was as fast as the leaders.”

Stella said the race provided “important learnings for us as a team in terms of how we cope with this phenomenon and with these conditions.” However as the final two races of the year will take place on faster tracks in hotter conditions, those lessons may not prove useful until next year.

However Norris’s significantly better pace in his third stint allowed him to pull out enough of a gap over his pursuers that he was able to make one more pit stop. He took a set of soft tyres at the end which gave him the chance to set a new fastest lap. It added one more point to McLaren’s tally, but Norris’s hopes of preventing Verstappen from clinching the drivers’ title were over.

2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix lap chart

The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

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2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix race chart

The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix lap times

All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:

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2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix fastest laps

Each driver’s fastest lap:

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2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

Rank	#	Driver	Team	Complete stop time (s)	Gap to best (s)	Stop no.	Lap no.
1	30	Liam Lawson	RB	20.642		2	38
2	4	Lando Norris	McLaren	20.668	0.026	2	30
3	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	20.697	0.055	1	11
4	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	20.879	0.237	2	28
5	63	George Russell	Mercedes	20.975	0.333	2	32
6	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	21.034	0.392	2	32
7	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	21.048	0.406	1	10
8	30	Liam Lawson	RB	21.049	0.407	1	11
9	4	Lando Norris	McLaren	21.059	0.417	3	48
10	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	21.067	0.425	1	13
11	63	George Russell	Mercedes	21.072	0.43	1	12
12	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	21.082	0.44	2	25
13	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	21.142	0.5	1	12
14	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB	21.168	0.526	1	10
15	43	Franco Colapinto	Williams	21.17	0.528	1	16
16	4	Lando Norris	McLaren	21.194	0.552	1	9
17	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB	21.208	0.566	2	29
18	43	Franco Colapinto	Williams	21.221	0.579	2	26
19	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	21.294	0.652	1	17
20	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	21.329	0.687	1	9
21	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	21.355	0.713	2	27
22	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	21.407	0.765	1	4
23	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	21.407	0.765	2	24
24	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	21.511	0.869	1	14
25	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	21.585	0.943	2	31
26	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	21.588	0.946	2	28
27	77	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber	21.623	0.981	1	17
28	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	21.702	1.06	2	33
29	24	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber	21.761	1.119	2	34
30	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	21.858	1.216	2	45
31	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	21.963	1.321	1	17
32	23	Alexander Albon	Williams	22.012	1.37	1	9
33	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	22.179	1.537	1	10
34	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	22.254	1.612	2	27
35	77	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber	22.821	2.179	2	35
36	24	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber	22.96	2.318	1	11
37	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	27.732	7.09	1	10
38	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	34.863	14.221	1	9