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Amid all hype around the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Lando Norris is maintaining a calm demeanor about his chances of claiming his first world title.

Norris presently holds a 24-point lead over fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and leads Max Verstappen by 49 points, with only a maximum of 83 points available across the remaining trio of events. However, after staging a extraordinary comeback from a significant deficit his teammate following the Zandvoort race in the summer, Norris is focused on performing with the methodical approach that propelled him to the top of the standings.

"It can easily go in the other direction once more even though I don't want it to," he stated. "That's motorsport, you know. Sometimes you get lucky. You can end up unlucky. No matter what happens. It's not worth getting excited or thinking about it. I continue to view it as a goal that's quite far away."

The 26-year-old has found his peak performance at a critical juncture—having struggled with the vehicle in the opening half of the campaign—at the same time that his teammate has shed the controlled, nearly flawless composure that had for so long made him seem to be a future title winner. Notably, Norris maintained a impressive level of equanimity all along, asserting even in the face of setbacks—such as his retirement from the Dutch GP—that he would stick to his gameplan and work each session with the same unwavering attention to detail. This approach has yielded results.

All the while, McLaren have gone to no little effort to try to preserve a fair competition for their pair of racers, and it has on occasion been something of difficult process, most notably at Monza when the squad directed the Australian to cede the runner-up spot to his teammate after he had fallen behind because of a slow pit stop. Certain spectators did not take well to what was seen as McLaren unnecessarily manipulating their competitors.

The championship leader has claimed victory in the last two races, in Mexico and São Paulo, and was jeered on the podium at both, leaving him unmoved. "When you're on top, a lot of individuals try to bring you down. They do not want to see you winning. I consider it a positive sign," he remarked.

"It just amuses me. While standing on the podium in Brazil, I really loved it. It was quite 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 correct manner, and I think I am, as long as I am confident I'm putting hard work into remaining true to myself and those kinds of things, then I am not concerned about the rest of it."

Las Vegas, meanwhile, needs to be mastered, and it is not a track suited to the McLaren. The layout has characteristics with Montreal and Baku: minimal aerodynamic grip, cool temperatures, and low grip. These are the sole pair of tracks this season where the papaya squad have failed to secure at least one top-three finish, and Norris was circumspect again about their prospects in Nevada. Yet, his objective in the short term is straightforward: end the race in front of his teammate and the points he needs will follow.

Practice Sees Varied Outcomes for Title Rivals

The Ferrari driver led the leaderboard in first practice on what was still a dusty and very low-grip track. Alex Albon was second, with the Red Bull star in fourth, the McLaren ace sixth, and Piastri in eighth. During the more indicative evening session of second practice, the Briton was quickest ahead of the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, with Piastri down in fourteenth; though, the practice lost almost all of the final 20 minutes of track time to inspect a reported loose manhole cover at the penultimate corner.

The issue is treated with caution on a street circuit where, at the inaugural Nevada GP held in 2023, a loose manhole struck the Ferrari, heavily damaging it and leading to the session to be aborted.

Mercedes Announce Ownership Sale

Mercedes have confirmed that their team principal the Austrian executive has sold a 15% stake in his holding company, representing a five percent ownership in the squad, to US tycoon George Kurtz. Kurtz is the chief executive and creator of the cybersecurity company the tech giant. Wolff will remain as team principal and could earn up to £230m from the deal, with Mercedes having been valued at £4.57 billion, a record for an Formula 1 constructor.