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Despite all hype surrounding the Las Vegas Grand Prix, McLaren's lead driver is keeping a level head about his prospects of securing his first drivers' championship.

The British driver currently holds a 24-point lead over teammate Oscar Piastri and leads Max Verstappen by 49 points, with just up to eighty-three points up for grabs across the final three races. But, after pulling off a extraordinary recovery from 34 points behind Piastri following the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Norris is focused on performing with the clinical precision that lifted him to the top of the championship.

"It can easily go the opposite way again even though I hope it doesn't," he stated. "That's motorsport, you know. Sometimes you get lucky. You can end up unlucky. No matter what happens. It's no point getting excited or dwelling on it. I still do see it as a goal that's quite distant."

The 26-year-old has found his peak performance at a critical moment—after difficulties with the vehicle in the opening half of the season—while his teammate has shed the disciplined, almost flawless ease that previously made him seem to be a future title winner. Importantly, Norris maintained a impressive level of equanimity throughout, asserting even in the face of setbacks—such as his withdrawal from the Zandvoort race—that he would stick to his strategy and approach each session with the identical unwavering focus on specifics. This approach has yielded results.

All the while, McLaren have worked hard to attempt to preserve a level playing field for their pair of racers, and it has on occasion been something of torturous process, especially at Monza when the team instructed the Australian to surrender second place to Norris following he had fallen behind because of a slow pit stop. Certain spectators did not take well to what was considered the team needlessly interfering with their drivers.

Norris has won the last two races, in Mexico City and São Paulo, and was jeered on the podium at both, leaving him unfazed. "When you're on top, many individuals want to bring you down. They don't want to see you succeeding. I see it as a good thing," he said.

"It makes me laugh. While standing on the winner's stage in Brazil, I truly enjoyed it. It was quite enjoyable. At last you feel like you're doing something right.

"It doesn't bother me, as long as I win. As long as I believe I am competing the correct manner, and I think I am, so long as I am confident I am dedicating effort into being who I am and those kinds of things, then I'm not too fussed with the rest of it."

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 low grip. These are the sole pair of circuits this season where McLaren have been unable to secure a single podium place, and Norris was circumspect again about their chances in Nevada. Yet, his objective in the immediate future is straightforward: end the race in front of his teammate and the points he requires will follow.

Friday Running Shows Mixed Results for Championship Rivals

The Ferrari driver topped the leaderboard in first practice on what was still a sandy and very low-grip track. The Williams racer was second, with the Red Bull star in fourth, the McLaren ace sixth, and Piastri eighth. In the more representative night running of second practice, Norris was fastest from the Silver Arrows of Kimi Antonelli, with Piastri down in fourteenth; though, the practice lost almost all of the final 20 minutes of track time to check a reported loose manhole cover at the penultimate corner.

The issue is treated with caution on a street circuit where, at the inaugural Las Vegas GP staged in 2023, a dislodged drain cover struck Carlos Sainz's Ferrari, heavily damaging it and leading to the session to be aborted.

Mercedes Confirm Ownership Transaction

The eight-time constructors' champions have revealed that their team principal Toto Wolff has divested a 15% stake in his holding company, equating to a five percent ownership in the team, to American billionaire the cybersecurity magnate. The investor is the CEO and founder of the digital protection firm the tech giant. The team principal will stay on as boss and may receive up to £230 million from the deal, with the Brackley-based outfit having been appraised at £4.57bn, a new high for an F1 team.