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

Norris currently has a two-dozen point advantage over teammate Oscar Piastri and leads Max Verstappen by nearly fifty points, with only a maximum of eighty-three points up for grabs across the final three events. But, after staging a remarkable recovery from a significant deficit his teammate after the Zandvoort race in August, Norris is focused on executing with the clinical precision that propelled him to the lead of the standings.

"Things can quickly turn in the other direction again even though I hope it doesn't," he stated. "That's motorsport, as we all know. You can get lucky. You can end up unfortunate. Whatever it may be. It's not worth getting excited or dwelling on it. I continue to do see it as a goal that remains distant."

Norris has found his peak performance at a critical moment—having struggled with the car in the first part of the campaign—while Piastri has lost the disciplined, nearly flawless composure that had for so long made him appear to be a champion in waiting. Importantly, Norris kept a impressive level of equanimity throughout, asserting even in the face of challenges—like his retirement from the Zandvoort race—that he would adhere to his gameplan and approach every outing with the same relentless focus on specifics. It has paid off.

Meanwhile, McLaren have worked hard to attempt to maintain a level playing field for their pair of racers, and it has on occasion been something of torturous process, most notably at Monza when the team directed the Australian to surrender second place to Norris after he had lost the spot because of a slow pit stop. Some fans were unhappy with what was considered the team needlessly manipulating their competitors.

The championship leader has claimed victory in the last two grands prix, in Mexico City and São Paulo, and was jeered on the podium at each, leaving him unmoved. "Once you are leading, a lot of people want to undermine you. They do not want to see you succeeding. I consider it a good thing," he remarked.

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

"I don't mind, provided that I come out on top. As long as I believe I am competing the correct manner, which I feel like I am, as long as I am confident I am dedicating hard work into being who I am and those kinds of things, then I'm not too fussed with external opinions."

Las Vegas, on the other hand, must be mastered, and it is a circuit ideal for the McLaren. The layout has characteristics with Montreal and Baku: minimal aerodynamic grip, chilly conditions, and low grip. These are the only two tracks in the current championship where the papaya squad have been unable to claim a single top-three finish, and the leader was cautious once more about their prospects in Nevada. Yet, his task in the short term is straightforward: finish in ahead of his teammate and the points he requires will follow.

Practice Sees Mixed Results for Title Contenders

Charles Leclerc topped the leaderboard in first practice on what was still a sandy and very low-grip track. Alex Albon was runner-up, with the Red Bull star fourth, the McLaren ace in P6, and Piastri in eighth. During the more indicative evening session of FP2, Norris was quickest from the Silver Arrows of Kimi Antonelli, with Piastri down in fourteenth; however, the practice lost almost all of the last third of track time to inspect a reported unsecured manhole cover at the penultimate corner.

The issue is taken seriously on a temporary track where, at the inaugural Nevada GP staged in 2023, a dislodged drain cover struck the Ferrari, heavily damaging it and leading to 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, representing a 5% share in the team, to US tycoon George Kurtz. The investor is the chief executive and creator of the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. The team principal will remain as boss and may receive as much as £230m from the deal, with Mercedes having been appraised at £4.57bn, a record for an Formula 1 constructor.