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Despite all excitement around the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Lando Norris is keeping a calm demeanor about his chances of securing his maiden drivers' championship.

The British driver currently holds a two-dozen point advantage over fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and is ahead of Max Verstappen by 49 points, with only a maximum of eighty-three points up for grabs across the final three races. But, after staging a extraordinary recovery from a significant deficit Piastri following the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Norris is concentrating on executing with the methodical approach that propelled him to the top of the championship.

"It can easily go in the other direction once more as much as I hope it doesn't," he stated. "That's racing, as we all know. Sometimes you get lucky. Other times you also be unfortunate. Whatever it may be. There's really no point becoming overjoyed or dwelling on it. I continue to do see it as a goal that's quite far away."

Norris has found his peak performance at a critical moment—after difficulties with the vehicle in the opening half of the season—while Piastri has lost the disciplined, nearly perfect composure that had for so long made him seem to be a champion in waiting. Notably, Norris kept a remarkable level of equanimity all along, asserting even in the face of challenges—like his withdrawal from the Dutch GP—that he would stick to his gameplan and work every outing with the same relentless focus on specifics. It has yielded results.

Meanwhile, the team have gone to no little effort to attempt to maintain a level playing field for their two drivers, and it has at times been something of difficult experience, most notably at Monza when the team directed the Australian to cede second place to his teammate after he had fallen behind due to a slow pit stop. Certain spectators were unhappy with what was considered the team needlessly interfering with their competitors.

The championship leader has claimed victory in the last two races, in Mexico and São Paulo, and was booed on the podium at each, leaving him unfazed. "When you're leading, a lot of individuals want to undermine you. They don't like seeing you succeeding. I consider it a good thing," he said.

"It just amuses me. When I was on the winner's stage in Brazil, I truly enjoyed it. It was very enjoyable. You finally feel like you're doing success.

"It doesn't bother me, as long as I come out on top. As long as I feel like I'm doing it the correct manner, which I feel like I am, so long as I feel like I am dedicating hard work into being who I am and similar principles, then I'm not too fussed about the rest of it."

Las Vegas, on the other hand, needs to be mastered, and it is a circuit suited to the British team. It shares similarities with Canada and Azerbaijan: low downforce, cool temperatures, and slippery surfaces. They are the sole pair of tracks in the current championship where the papaya squad have failed to claim at least one podium place, and Norris was circumspect again about their prospects in Nevada. Still, his objective in the immediate future is straightforward: finish in front of Piastri and the championship tally he requires will come.

Practice Sees Mixed Outcomes for Title Rivals

Charles Leclerc led the leaderboard in first practice on what was still a dusty and extremely low-grip track. The Williams racer was runner-up, with the Red Bull star in fourth, Norris sixth, and Piastri in eighth. In the more representative evening session of FP2, Norris was fastest from the Silver Arrows of Kimi Antonelli, with his teammate down in fourteenth; though, the session lost almost all of the final 20 minutes of track time to inspect a reported loose manhole cover at the penultimate corner.

The issue is taken seriously on a temporary track where, at the inaugural Nevada GP held in 2023, a dislodged manhole struck the Ferrari, heavily harming it and causing the practice to be aborted.

Mercedes Announce Ownership Sale

The eight-time constructors' champions have revealed that their team principal the Austrian executive has sold a fifteen percent share in his holding company, equating to a five percent ownership in the squad, to American billionaire the cybersecurity magnate. Kurtz is the CEO and founder of the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. The team principal will stay on as boss and may receive up to £230m from the sale, with Mercedes having been valued at £4.57 billion, a new high for an Formula 1 constructor.