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

The British driver currently has a two-dozen point advantage over teammate Oscar Piastri and is ahead of Max Verstappen by 49 points, with just up to eighty-three points up for grabs across the final three races. However, after staging a remarkable recovery from 34 points behind Piastri after the Zandvoort race in the summer, Norris is concentrating on performing with the clinical precision that propelled him to the top of the standings.

"Things can quickly go in the other direction once more even though I hope it doesn't," he commented. "That's motorsport, as we all know. Sometimes you also have luck. You can end up unlucky. No matter what happens. It's not worth getting excited or dwelling on it. I continue to view it as something that's quite far away."

Norris has discovered his peak performance at a critical juncture—having struggled with the car in the opening half of the campaign—at the same time that Piastri has shed the controlled, nearly flawless ease that had for so long made him appear to be a champion in waiting. Notably, Norris kept a remarkable level of equanimity throughout, asserting despite setbacks—like his retirement from the Zandvoort race—that he would stick to his strategy and approach every outing with the same unwavering focus on specifics. It has paid off.

Meanwhile, McLaren have gone to no little effort to try to maintain a level playing field for their pair of racers, and it has at times been something of difficult experience, especially at the Italian Grand Prix when the team instructed Piastri to cede the runner-up spot to his teammate following he had lost the spot due to a slow pit stop. Certain spectators did not take well to what was considered McLaren needlessly interfering with their drivers.

The championship leader has claimed victory in the last two grands prix, in Mexico City and São Paulo, and was booed on the podium at both, yet he remained unfazed. "Once you are leading, a lot of individuals try to bring you down. They do not want to see you winning. I see it as a good thing," he remarked.

"It amuses me. While standing on the podium in Brazil, I really enjoyed it. It was quite enjoyable. At last you sense that you are achieving success.

"It doesn't bother me, as long as I come out on top. If I feel like I'm doing it the correct manner, which I feel like that's the case, so 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 external opinions."

Las Vegas, on the other hand, needs to be conquered, and it is a circuit ideal for the McLaren. The layout has characteristics with Canada and Azerbaijan: minimal aerodynamic grip, chilly conditions, and slippery surfaces. They are the sole pair of circuits in the current championship where McLaren have been unable to secure at least one podium place, and the leader was cautious once more about their chances this weekend. Yet, his objective in the immediate future is straightforward: finish in ahead of his teammate and the championship tally he needs will come.

Friday Running Shows Mixed Results for Championship Rivals

Charles Leclerc topped the leaderboard in first practice on what was still a sandy and extremely low-grip track. Alex Albon was second, with Verstappen fourth, the McLaren ace sixth, and Piastri in eighth. In the more indicative night running of second practice, Norris was quickest from the Mercedes of the Italian rookie, with his teammate down in fourteenth; though, the practice lost almost all of the final 20 minutes of running to inspect a reported unsecured drain cover at turn 17.

This problem is taken seriously on a street circuit where, at the inaugural Nevada GP held in 2023, a dislodged drain cover smashed into Carlos Sainz's Ferrari, severely damaging it and causing the practice to be aborted.

The German Team Confirm Ownership Transaction

Mercedes have confirmed that their team principal Toto Wolff has sold a 15% stake in his investment firm, equating to a 5% share in the squad, to US tycoon George Kurtz. Kurtz is the CEO and founder of the digital protection firm the tech giant. Wolff will remain as boss and could earn as much as £230m from the sale, with Mercedes having been appraised at £4.57 billion, a record for an Formula 1 constructor.