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 0.020s in Q1 to qualify 16th, while Oscar Piastri followed in 19th in what has been McLaren's worst qualifying performance since it upgraded its MCL60 in the summer.
