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Despite the excitement around the Sin City Grand Prix, Lando Norris is keeping a level head regarding his chances of securing his first drivers' championship.

The British driver presently has a 24-point advantage over fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and is ahead of Max Verstappen by 49 points, with only up to eighty-three points available across the final three races. But, after pulling off a extraordinary comeback from 34 points behind his teammate after the Zandvoort race in August, Norris is focused on executing with the methodical approach that lifted him to the lead of the championship.

"Things 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. Sometimes you get lucky. You can also be unfortunate. 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 discovered his best form at a critical moment—having struggled with the vehicle in the opening half of the campaign—while his teammate has shed the disciplined, nearly flawless ease that previously made him appear to be a champion in waiting. Importantly, Norris kept a impressive level of composure all along, insisting even in the face of challenges—like his retirement from the Dutch GP—that he would stick to his strategy and work every outing with the same unwavering focus on specifics. It has yielded results.

All the while, McLaren have worked hard to try to maintain a fair competition for their pair of racers, and it has on occasion been a rather difficult experience, especially at Monza when the squad instructed the Australian to surrender second place to Norris after he had fallen behind due to a delayed tire change. Certain spectators were unhappy with what was considered McLaren needlessly manipulating their drivers.

The championship leader has won the previous pair of races, in Mexico City and Brazil, and was jeered on the winner's rostrum at both, leaving him unmoved. "Once you are on top, a lot of individuals want to undermine you. They do not want to see you winning. I see it as a good thing," he said.

"It makes me laugh. While standing on the winner's stage in Interlagos, I truly enjoyed it. It was very enjoyable. You finally sense that you are achieving success.

"I don't mind, provided that I win. As long as I feel like I'm doing it the right way, and I think that's the case, as long as I am confident I'm putting hard work into remaining true to myself and similar principles, then I'm not too fussed with external opinions."

Las Vegas, on the other hand, must be conquered, and it is not a track ideal for the McLaren. The layout has similarities with Canada and Baku: minimal aerodynamic grip, cool temperatures, and slippery surfaces. These are the sole pair of circuits in the current championship where the papaya squad have been unable to claim a single podium place, and Norris was circumspect again about their prospects in Nevada. Yet, his objective in the short term is simple: finish in ahead of his teammate and the championship tally he needs will come.

Practice Sees Mixed Results for Title Rivals

Charles Leclerc led the times in FP1 on what was still a sandy and very low-grip track. The Williams racer was runner-up, with the Red Bull star in fourth, Norris sixth, and the Australian eighth. During the more representative night running of FP2, Norris was quickest from the Silver Arrows of Kimi Antonelli, with Piastri down in fourteenth; though, the practice was interrupted for almost all of the final 20 minutes of running to check a reported loose drain cover at turn 17.

This problem is taken seriously on a temporary track where, at the first Las Vegas GP held in 2023, a loose manhole struck Carlos Sainz's Ferrari, heavily harming it and leading to the practice to be aborted.

The German Team Confirm Stake Sale

Mercedes have revealed that their team principal Toto Wolff has divested a fifteen percent share in his investment firm, representing a 5% share in the team, to American billionaire George Kurtz. The investor is the CEO and founder of the digital protection firm the tech giant. The team principal will stay on as team principal and may receive up to £230m from the deal, with Mercedes having been valued at £4.57 billion, a record for an Formula 1 constructor.