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Despite the excitement surrounding the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Lando Norris is maintaining a calm demeanor regarding his chances of claiming his maiden drivers' championship.

The British driver currently holds a two-dozen point advantage over teammate Oscar Piastri and leads Max Verstappen by nearly fifty points, with only a maximum of 83 points available across the final three races. But, after pulling off a extraordinary recovery from a significant deficit his teammate following the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Norris is focused on executing with the methodical approach that lifted him to the lead of the standings.

"It can easily go the opposite way once more as much as I don't want it to," he stated. "That's motorsport, you know. Sometimes you also have luck. You can also be unfortunate. No matter what happens. It's no point becoming overjoyed or dwelling on it. I still do see it as something that remains far away."

The 26-year-old has found his peak performance at a crucial juncture—after difficulties with the vehicle in the opening half of the season—while Piastri has lost the controlled, almost perfect composure that had for so long made him appear to be a future title winner. Importantly, Norris kept a impressive level of composure all along, insisting even in the face of setbacks—such as his retirement from the Dutch GP—that he would stick to his strategy and approach every outing with the identical unwavering attention to detail. This approach has yielded results.

All the while, McLaren have gone to no little effort to try to maintain a level playing field for their pair of racers, and it has at times been a rather torturous process, especially at Monza when the squad instructed the Australian to surrender second place to his teammate after he had lost the spot because of a slow pit stop. Some fans did not take well to what was considered McLaren needlessly manipulating their drivers.

The championship leader has claimed victory in the last two grands prix, in Mexico and São Paulo, and was booed on the winner's rostrum at both, yet he remained unfazed. "When you're on top, many individuals want to bring you down. They don't want to see you succeeding. I see it as a good thing," he remarked.

"It just makes me laugh. When I was on the winner's stage in Interlagos, I truly enjoyed it. The experience was very satisfying. You finally sense that you're doing success.

"I don't mind, as long as I win. If I believe I am competing the right way, which I feel like I am, so long as I feel like I am dedicating effort into remaining true to myself and those kinds of things, then I'm not too fussed about external opinions."

Vegas, on the other hand, must be conquered, and it is not a track ideal for the McLaren. It shares similarities with Canada and Baku: low downforce, cool temperatures, and slippery surfaces. They are the only two tracks in the current championship where McLaren have been unable to claim a single podium place, and Norris was circumspect once more about their chances this weekend. Still, his task in the immediate future is straightforward: finish in front of Piastri and the championship tally he needs will follow.

Practice Sees Varied Results for Title Contenders

Charles Leclerc topped the leaderboard in first practice on what was remained a sandy and very slippery track. Alex Albon was second, with the Red Bull star fourth, the McLaren ace in P6, and Piastri in eighth. During the more representative evening session of second practice, Norris was quickest ahead of the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, with Piastri down in fourteenth; however, the session was interrupted for almost all of the final 20 minutes of running to inspect a reported unsecured drain cover at the penultimate corner.

The issue is taken seriously on a street circuit where, at the inaugural Las Vegas GP held in 2023, a dislodged manhole struck the Ferrari, heavily damaging it and leading to the session to be ended.

Mercedes Announce Stake Sale

Mercedes have revealed that their boss the Austrian executive has sold a fifteen percent share in his investment firm, equating to a five percent ownership in the squad, to US tycoon George Kurtz. The investor is the chief executive and creator of the digital protection firm the tech giant. Wolff will stay on as team principal and could earn up to £230m from the deal, with Mercedes having been valued at £4.57 billion, a new high for an Formula 1 constructor.