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

Norris presently has a 24-point lead over teammate Oscar Piastri and leads Max Verstappen by 49 points, with only a maximum of 83 points available across the remaining trio of events. However, after pulling off a remarkable comeback from 34 points behind his teammate following the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Norris is focused on executing with the clinical precision that lifted him to the lead of the standings.

"It can quickly go in the other direction once more as much as I don't want it to," he stated. "That's motorsport, as we all know. Sometimes you get lucky. You can also be unlucky. Whatever it may be. There's really not worth getting excited or dwelling on it. I continue to view it as something that remains distant."

Norris has found his peak performance at a critical moment—after difficulties with the car in the first part of the campaign—at the same time that his teammate has shed the controlled, nearly perfect composure that previously made him seem to be a future title winner. Notably, Norris maintained a impressive level of equanimity throughout, insisting even in the face of challenges—like his withdrawal from the Dutch GP—that he would stick to his gameplan and approach every outing with the identical relentless focus on specifics. It has yielded results.

Meanwhile, McLaren have gone to no little effort to try to preserve a fair competition for their pair of racers, and it has at times been a rather difficult experience, most notably at the Italian Grand Prix when the squad instructed the Australian to cede second place to his teammate following he had lost the spot due to a delayed tire change. Some fans did not take well to what was considered McLaren unnecessarily manipulating their competitors.

The championship leader has won the previous pair of grands prix, in Mexico and São Paulo, and was jeered on the podium at each, leaving him unfazed. "Once you are leading, many individuals try to undermine you. They don't want to see you winning. I see it as a positive sign," he remarked.

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

"I don't mind, provided that I come out on top. If I feel like I am competing the right manner, which I feel like I am, as long as I am confident I'm putting effort into being who I am 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 not a track suited to the British team. The layout has similarities with Montreal and Baku: minimal aerodynamic grip, cool temperatures, and low grip. These are the only two tracks this season where McLaren have been unable to secure a single top-three finish, and the leader was cautious again about their chances in Nevada. Still, his task in the short term is straightforward: end the race in front of Piastri and the points he requires will come.

Practice Shows Varied Outcomes for Championship Rivals

Charles Leclerc topped the leaderboard in first practice on what was remained a dusty and very slippery surface. The Williams racer was second, with Verstappen fourth, the McLaren ace sixth, and Piastri in eighth. During the more representative evening session of FP2, Norris was quickest ahead of the Silver Arrows of Kimi Antonelli, with Piastri down in fourteenth; though, the session was interrupted for nearly the final 20 minutes of running to inspect a suspected unsecured drain cover at turn 17.

The issue is treated with caution on a street circuit where, at the first Las Vegas GP staged in 2023, a dislodged manhole struck the Ferrari, severely damaging it and causing the practice to be aborted.

The German Team Confirm Ownership Sale

Mercedes have confirmed that their boss Toto Wolff has divested a 15% stake in his investment firm, equating to a five percent ownership in the squad, to US tycoon George Kurtz. Kurtz is the chief executive and creator of the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. The team principal will stay on as boss and may receive as much as £230 million from the sale, with the Brackley-based outfit having been valued at £4.57bn, a new high for an Formula 1 constructor.