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Despite the excitement around the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Lando Norris is maintaining a calm demeanor about his chances of securing his maiden world title.

The British driver presently has a two-dozen point advantage over fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and leads Max Verstappen by nearly fifty points, with just a maximum of 83 points available across the final three events. But, after pulling off a remarkable comeback from 34 points behind his teammate after the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Norris is focused on performing with the clinical precision that lifted him to the top of the championship.

"It can easily turn in the other direction again as much as I don't want it to," he commented. "That's motorsport, as we all know. You can get lucky. Other times you also be unfortunate. Whatever it may be. There's really no point getting excited or dwelling on it. I continue to do see it as something that's quite far away."

The 26-year-old has discovered his peak performance at a crucial juncture—after difficulties with the vehicle in the first part of the campaign—while Piastri has lost the disciplined, nearly flawless composure that previously made him seem to be a future title winner. Notably, Norris kept a impressive level of composure throughout, insisting even in the face of challenges—such as his withdrawal from the Zandvoort race—that he would stick to his strategy and work each session with the identical unwavering attention to detail. This approach has paid off.

Meanwhile, McLaren have worked hard to try to preserve a level playing field for their pair of racers, and it has on occasion been a rather difficult process, most notably at the Italian Grand Prix when the team directed the Australian to surrender the runner-up spot to his teammate following he had fallen behind because of a delayed tire change. Some fans did not take well to what was seen as McLaren needlessly interfering with their competitors.

Norris has claimed victory in the previous pair of races, in Mexico and Brazil, and was jeered on the winner's rostrum at each, yet he remained unmoved. "Once you are on top, many people want to bring you down. They do not like seeing you winning. I consider it a good thing," he said.

"It just makes me laugh. While standing on the podium in Brazil, I truly enjoyed it. The experience was very satisfying. You finally feel like you are achieving something right.

"It doesn't bother me, provided that I win. As long as I believe I am competing the right way, which I feel like I am, so long as I am confident I am dedicating hard work into being who I am and those kinds of things, then I am not concerned with external opinions."

Vegas, on the other hand, needs to be conquered, and it is a circuit ideal for the McLaren. It shares similarities with Canada and Baku: minimal aerodynamic grip, cool temperatures, and low grip. These are the only two circuits in the current championship where McLaren have been unable to claim at least one top-three finish, and the leader was circumspect again about their chances in Nevada. Still, his task in the immediate future is straightforward: end the race in ahead of his teammate and the points he requires will follow.

Practice Sees Varied Outcomes for Title Rivals

Charles Leclerc topped the times in FP1 on what was remained a sandy and extremely low-grip surface. Alex Albon was second, with Verstappen in fourth, Norris in P6, and Piastri in eighth. In the more representative night running of FP2, the Briton was fastest ahead of the Mercedes of the Italian rookie, with his teammate down in fourteenth; though, the practice lost nearly the final 20 minutes of track time to check a reported unsecured manhole cover at turn 17.

The issue is taken seriously on a street circuit where, at the first Las Vegas GP held in 2023, a loose manhole struck the Ferrari, severely damaging it and causing the session to be ended.

Mercedes Announce Stake Sale

Mercedes have confirmed that their boss Toto Wolff has sold a 15% stake in his investment firm, equating to a five percent ownership in the squad, to American billionaire George Kurtz. Kurtz is the chief executive and creator of the digital protection firm CrowdStrike. Wolff will remain as team principal and could earn as much as £230 million from the deal, with the Brackley-based outfit having been appraised at £4.57bn, a record for an F1 team.