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Despite all excitement surrounding the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Lando Norris is keeping a level head about his chances of claiming his maiden world title.

Norris currently has a 24-point advantage over fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and is ahead of Max Verstappen by nearly fifty points, with only up to 83 points up for grabs across the remaining trio of events. However, after staging a remarkable recovery from 34 points behind his teammate after the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Norris is focused on performing with the methodical approach that propelled him to the top of the championship.

"It can quickly turn in the other direction again as much as I don't want it to," he commented. "That's racing, as we all know. You can also have luck. You can also be unlucky. Whatever it may be. It's not worth becoming overjoyed or thinking about it. I continue to view it as a goal that's quite distant."

Norris has found his peak performance at a critical moment—after difficulties with the car in the first part of the season—while Piastri has lost the disciplined, nearly flawless ease that had for so long made him appear to be a future title winner. Importantly, Norris maintained a remarkable level of composure all along, insisting despite challenges—like his retirement from the Dutch GP—that he would stick to his gameplan and work each session with the same relentless focus on specifics. This approach has yielded results.

All the while, the team have gone to no little effort to try to maintain a fair competition for their pair of racers, and it has on occasion been something of difficult process, especially at Monza when the squad instructed the Australian to cede second place to his teammate following he had fallen behind due to a delayed tire change. Some fans did not take well to what was considered McLaren unnecessarily manipulating their drivers.

The championship leader has claimed victory in the previous pair of grands prix, in Mexico City and São Paulo, and was jeered on the winner's rostrum at both, yet he remained unmoved. "When you're on top, a lot of individuals want to undermine you. They don't like seeing you winning. I consider it a positive sign," he remarked.

"It amuses me. While standing on the winner's stage in Interlagos, I truly loved it. It was very satisfying. You finally sense that you are achieving something right.

"It doesn't bother me, as long as I come out on top. If I believe I am competing the right manner, and I think that's the case, so long as I feel like I'm putting hard work into remaining true to myself and similar principles, then I'm not too fussed with external opinions."

Las Vegas, meanwhile, must be mastered, and it is not a track ideal for the McLaren. The layout has similarities with Montreal and Azerbaijan: low downforce, cool temperatures, and low grip. These are the sole pair of tracks this season where the papaya squad have been unable to claim at least one podium place, and Norris was circumspect again about their prospects in Nevada. Yet, his task in the immediate future is straightforward: finish in front of Piastri and the points he requires will come.

Friday Running Shows Varied Outcomes for Title Contenders

Charles Leclerc led the leaderboard in FP1 on what was remained a sandy and very low-grip track. Alex Albon was runner-up, with the Red Bull star fourth, the McLaren ace sixth, and Piastri eighth. During the more indicative night running of FP2, Norris was fastest ahead of the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, with Piastri 14th; however, the practice lost nearly the last third of running to inspect a suspected unsecured drain cover at the penultimate corner.

This problem is treated with caution on a temporary track where, at the first Nevada GP staged in 2023, a loose manhole smashed into Carlos Sainz's Ferrari, severely harming it and leading to the practice to be aborted.

Mercedes Announce Ownership Transaction

The eight-time constructors' champions have revealed that their boss the Austrian executive has divested a 15% stake in his investment firm, equating to a 5% share in the team, to American billionaire the cybersecurity magnate. Kurtz is the chief executive and creator of the cybersecurity company the tech giant. Wolff will stay on as team principal and may receive up to £230m from the sale, with the Brackley-based outfit having been appraised at £4.57bn, a record for an Formula 1 constructor.