Lando Norris celebrated a pole position that McLaren team principal Andrea Stella labelled "exceptional" in Las Vegas, but he must now weigh up how to go about the race.

Norris will start at the front of the grid on Saturday, as he aims to press home his 24-point advantage in the Formula One driver standings.

The Briton finished ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen, overcoming treacherous, wet conditions in the desert, as well as a wobble on the Chicane at the end of the Las Vegas Strip Circuit.

Carlos Sainz placed third with George Russell fourth, with Norris' team-mate Oscar Piastri – the championship leader for much of the season – qualifying fifth.

Now, Norris suggested he will take a cautious approach to the race in such tough conditions.

"I'm here to win. I'm not here to not take risks," he said.

"I still want to go out and win. So I'll be making sure I can do everything that I can.

"But it's still one step at a time – get a good start, good opening lap, that kind of thing – and just go from there.

"It's been wetter. It's just, it feels like you may as well have been out on slicks, to be honest, it was so slippery, difficult.

"The amount of wheelspin you have in places, how easy it was to lock tyres, the white lines, the yellow lines - just everything was pretty tough.

"Some bits felt actually OK, some bits felt just shockingly slippery and difficult to manage, to control the car. So, even more satisfied with the end result because of how tricky it was out there."

LANDO ON POLE POSITION IN VEGAS!

It's a mega lap from the championship leader in hugely tricky conditions #F1 #LasVegasGP pic.twitter.com/QgPWdcCNby

— Formula 1 (@F1) November 22, 2025

Verstappen has been in fantastic form in recent races. The Dutchman sits 49 points back from Norris in the standings.

"He's been quick and if you expect anything less, then you don't know what he's capable of," Norris said of Verstappen.

"So yeah, I expect a battle. I expect a battle through the whole race."

Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, endured a miserable qualifying session. He placed 20th, marking the first time in his career that he has qualified last on outright pace.

"The first set of tyres obviously didn't work for us, and I was just struggling to generate the heat in the tyres for some reason," Ferrari driver Hamilton said, as reported by Sky Sports.

"It's a shame because the guys did such a great job. The car was feeling awesome in P3 and I really, really felt like we had good pace, then obviously the rain came. Not a lot to say really from there, to be honest."