Piastri delivers ‘tidy up’ instruction to McLaren

Oscar Piastri believes he and McLaren have some "tidying up to do" at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, but insists they are "there or thereabouts" already.

The Australian finished eighth-fastest in both free practice sessions in Nevada, but feels the pace of the MCL38 "seems reasonable" as Lando Norris fared better, finishing both hours in the top three.

The Las Vegas Strip Circuit has proved tricky for the teams to acclimatise to, with very low temperatures causing tyre and brake-heating issues.

"Yeah, it was tough," the 23-year-old said when reflecting on the day's running. "Very similar to last year, I would say, so every lap we do the track is getting better and better.

"We knew what to expect this time, at least.

"It's been an interesting day. I think the pace seems reasonable, just a bit of tidying up, and if you don't get the lap here, then you quickly lose a lot of time with the track evolving so much.

"Think there's definitely still a lot of positives, but just need some tidying up."

Piastri was keen to highlight that the Alexander Albon-induced red flag during FP2 somewhat masked his true pace, but nevertheless admitted further adjustments were still required.

When asked if there was quite a lot of lap time left to gain, he replied: "Yeah, I think so.

"When the red flag came out, I was on a lap that was a fair bit better than the lap I did. But still, some tidying up to do on top of that.

"But I think the pace is there or thereabouts, just need to make sure I leave it out on the track."

The McLaren driver maintains the Woking squad will be at the sharp end for qualifying, even if Mercedes and Ferrari look to be in imperious form.

"Mercedes have looked very quick today - very, very quick," he added. "Ferrari have been pretty strong as well, but I think we're definitely in the mix."