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Amid all hype around the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Lando Norris is keeping a calm demeanor regarding his chances of claiming his first drivers' championship.

The British driver presently has a 24-point advantage over fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and leads Max Verstappen by nearly fifty points, with only a maximum of 83 points available across the final three races. But, after pulling off a extraordinary recovery from 34 points behind his teammate after the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Norris is concentrating on executing with the clinical precision that propelled him to the lead of the standings.

"It can quickly turn the opposite way once more even though I hope it doesn't," he stated. "That's motorsport, as we all know. You can get lucky. You can also be unlucky. Whatever it may be. There's really no point becoming overjoyed or dwelling on it. I still do see it as something that's quite distant."

The 26-year-old has found his best form at a critical moment—after difficulties with the car in the opening half of the campaign—at the same time that his teammate has lost the controlled, almost flawless composure that had for so long made him appear to be a champion in waiting. Importantly, Norris maintained a impressive level of equanimity throughout, asserting even in the face of setbacks—like his withdrawal from the Dutch GP—that he would adhere to his gameplan and work each session with the same unwavering attention to detail. It has paid off.

Meanwhile, McLaren have gone to no little effort to try to maintain a fair competition for their pair of racers, and it has on occasion been something of difficult process, especially at the Italian Grand Prix when the team directed Piastri to surrender second place to his teammate after he had fallen behind due to a delayed tire change. Certain spectators did not take well to what was considered the team needlessly manipulating their drivers.

The championship leader has claimed victory in the previous pair of grands prix, in Mexico City and Brazil, and was jeered on the winner's rostrum at both, yet he remained unfazed. "Once you are on top, many individuals try to bring you down. They do not want to see you succeeding. I see it as a good thing," he said.

"It just makes me laugh. When I was on the podium in Interlagos, I truly loved it. The experience was very enjoyable. You finally feel like you are achieving something right.

"It doesn't bother me, provided that I come out on top. As long as I feel like I'm doing it the right manner, which I feel like I am, as long as I am confident I am dedicating effort into being who I am and similar principles, then I'm not too fussed about external opinions."

Vegas, on the other hand, needs to be mastered, and it is a circuit suited to the McLaren. It shares similarities with Canada and Azerbaijan: minimal aerodynamic grip, chilly conditions, and low grip. They are the sole pair of tracks in the current championship where McLaren have been unable to secure at least one top-three finish, and the leader was cautious once more about their chances 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 Championship Contenders

Charles Leclerc led the times in first practice on what was remained a dusty and extremely low-grip surface. The Williams racer was second, with Verstappen fourth, Norris in P6, and Piastri in eighth. In the more representative evening session of FP2, Norris was fastest from the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, with Piastri down in fourteenth; though, the session lost nearly the final 20 minutes of track time to inspect a reported unsecured manhole cover at the penultimate corner.

This problem is taken seriously on a street circuit where, at the first Nevada GP staged in 2023, a loose drain cover struck the Ferrari, heavily damaging it and leading to the practice to be aborted.

Mercedes Announce Ownership Sale

The eight-time constructors' champions have confirmed that their team principal the Austrian executive has divested a 15% stake in his investment firm, representing a 5% share in the squad, to US tycoon the cybersecurity magnate. Kurtz is the CEO and founder of the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. The team principal will stay on as team principal and could earn as much as £230m from the deal, with the Brackley-based outfit having been appraised at £4.57 billion, a new high for an F1 team.