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Amid all excitement surrounding the Sin City Grand Prix, Lando Norris is maintaining a level head about his chances of securing his maiden drivers' championship.

Norris presently holds a two-dozen point lead over fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and is ahead of Max Verstappen by 49 points, with just a maximum of eighty-three points up for grabs across the final three races. However, after pulling off a extraordinary recovery from 34 points behind his teammate after the Zandvoort race in the summer, Norris is focused on performing with the methodical approach that lifted him to the lead of the standings.

"Things can quickly go the opposite way again as much as I hope it doesn't," he stated. "That's racing, as we all know. You can also have luck. Other times you also be unfortunate. Whatever it may be. It's no point getting excited or dwelling on it. I continue to view it as a goal that's quite distant."

Norris has found his peak performance at a critical moment—having struggled with the vehicle in the opening half of the campaign—at the same time that his teammate has shed the disciplined, almost flawless ease that had for so long made him appear to be a future title winner. Importantly, Norris kept a remarkable level of equanimity all along, asserting even in the face of challenges—such as his retirement from the Zandvoort race—that he would stick to his strategy and approach every outing with the same relentless focus on specifics. It has paid off.

Meanwhile, the team have worked hard to attempt to preserve a level playing field for their pair of racers, and it has at times been a rather difficult process, especially at the Italian Grand Prix when the squad instructed Piastri to surrender 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 the team needlessly manipulating their competitors.

Norris has won the last two races, in Mexico City and São Paulo, and was booed on the winner's rostrum at both, leaving him unfazed. "When you're on top, many individuals try to undermine you. They don't want to see you winning. I see it as a positive sign," he remarked.

"It just makes me laugh. While standing on the winner's stage in Brazil, I really enjoyed it. It was quite enjoyable. At last you sense that you are achieving something right.

"It doesn't bother me, as long as I win. If 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 remaining true to myself and similar principles, then I am not concerned about the rest of it."

Las Vegas, on the other hand, needs to be mastered, and it is not a track suited to the McLaren. The layout has similarities with Montreal and Azerbaijan: low downforce, chilly conditions, and slippery surfaces. They are the only two circuits this season where McLaren have failed to claim at least one podium place, and Norris was cautious again about their prospects in Nevada. Still, his task in the immediate future is simple: finish in front of Piastri and the championship tally he requires will come.

Practice Shows Mixed Outcomes for Championship Contenders

The Ferrari driver led the times in FP1 on what was still a dusty and very slippery track. The Williams racer was second, with the Red Bull star fourth, Norris in P6, and Piastri in eighth. During the more indicative night running of second practice, Norris was fastest ahead of the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, with his teammate down in fourteenth; however, the session lost nearly the final 20 minutes of running to check a reported unsecured drain cover at turn 17.

The issue is treated with caution on a temporary track where, at the first Nevada GP staged in 2023, a dislodged manhole struck the Ferrari, heavily damaging it and causing the practice to be aborted.

The German Team Confirm Ownership Transaction

Mercedes have revealed that their team principal the Austrian executive has divested a fifteen percent share in his holding company, equating to a five percent ownership in the squad, to American billionaire the cybersecurity magnate. The investor is the CEO and founder of the cybersecurity company the tech giant. Wolff will stay on as team principal and could earn as much as £230m from the sale, with Mercedes having been appraised at £4.57bn, a new high for an Formula 1 constructor.