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Amid the hype surrounding the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Lando Norris is keeping a level head about his prospects of securing his maiden drivers' championship.

Norris presently holds a 24-point advantage over teammate Oscar Piastri and is ahead of Max Verstappen by 49 points, with only up to eighty-three points up for grabs across the final three races. However, after staging a extraordinary recovery from 34 points behind Piastri after the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Norris is concentrating on executing with the methodical approach that propelled him to the top of the championship.

"Things can quickly go the opposite way again as much as I hope it doesn't," he commented. "That's motorsport, you know. Sometimes you also have luck. Other times you end up unfortunate. Whatever it may be. There's really no point becoming overjoyed or thinking about it. I continue to do see it as a goal that remains far away."

The 26-year-old has found his peak performance at a crucial moment—after difficulties with the vehicle in the first part of the season—while his teammate has shed the disciplined, almost perfect composure that previously made him appear to be a champion in waiting. Importantly, Norris kept a impressive level of equanimity all along, insisting even in the face of challenges—such as his retirement from the Dutch GP—that he would stick to his strategy and approach each session with the identical unwavering focus on specifics. This approach has yielded results.

Meanwhile, McLaren have gone to no little effort to attempt to maintain a fair competition for their pair of racers, and it has at times been something of torturous process, especially at Monza when the squad directed the Australian to cede the runner-up spot to Norris after he had lost the spot due to a slow pit stop. Certain spectators were unhappy with what was seen as McLaren needlessly manipulating their drivers.

Norris has claimed victory in the previous pair of grands prix, in Mexico City and Brazil, and was booed on the winner's rostrum at both, leaving him unfazed. "Once you are on top, a lot of individuals try to bring you down. They don't want to see you succeeding. I see it as a good thing," he said.

"It amuses me. When I was on the podium in Brazil, I really loved it. It was very satisfying. You finally sense that you are achieving success.

"It doesn't bother me, provided that I win. If I believe I'm doing it the right way, and I think that's the case, as long as I am confident I'm putting effort into remaining true to myself and those kinds of things, then I'm not too fussed about external opinions."

Vegas, meanwhile, needs to be mastered, and it is a circuit ideal for the McLaren. It shares characteristics with Canada and Azerbaijan: low downforce, chilly conditions, and slippery surfaces. These are the only two circuits in the current championship where the papaya squad have been unable to claim a single top-three finish, and Norris was cautious once more about their prospects this weekend. Yet, his task in the short term is simple: end the race in front of Piastri and the points he needs will follow.

Practice Shows Mixed Results for Championship Contenders

The Ferrari driver topped the leaderboard in first practice on what was still a sandy and extremely slippery surface. The Williams racer was runner-up, with Verstappen in fourth, the McLaren ace in P6, and the Australian in eighth. In the more representative night running of second practice, Norris was fastest from the Silver Arrows of Kimi Antonelli, with Piastri 14th; though, the practice was interrupted for almost all of the last third of running to inspect a suspected loose manhole cover at turn 17.

This problem is taken seriously on a temporary track where, at the inaugural Las Vegas GP staged in 2023, a dislodged drain cover struck the Ferrari, heavily damaging it and causing the practice to be ended.

Mercedes Announce Stake Transaction

Mercedes have revealed that their boss the Austrian executive has sold a 15% stake in his investment firm, equating to a 5% share in the squad, to American billionaire the cybersecurity magnate. Kurtz is the chief executive and creator of the cybersecurity company the tech giant. The team principal will stay on as boss and may receive as much as £230m from the sale, with Mercedes having been appraised at £4.57 billion, a new high for an Formula 1 constructor.