🔗 Share this article

Despite all hype surrounding the Sin City Grand Prix, Lando Norris is maintaining a level head regarding his prospects of securing his first 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 up to 83 points up for grabs across the remaining trio of races. But, after pulling off a remarkable recovery from 34 points behind Piastri following the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Norris is focused on executing with the methodical approach that propelled him to the top of the standings.

"It can quickly turn in the other direction once more even though I hope it doesn't," he commented. "That's racing, you know. You can get lucky. You can also be unlucky. Whatever it may be. It's not worth getting excited or dwelling on it. I continue to view it as a goal that remains far away."

Norris has discovered his peak performance at a critical moment—after difficulties with the car in the first part of the campaign—while his teammate has lost the disciplined, almost flawless composure that had for so long made him appear to be a champion in waiting. Importantly, Norris kept a remarkable level of composure all along, insisting even in the face of setbacks—such as his withdrawal from the Zandvoort race—that he would stick to his strategy and work every outing with the identical relentless attention to detail. It has paid off.

Meanwhile, the team have worked hard to try to preserve a level playing field for their two drivers, and it has at times been a rather torturous process, especially at Monza when the squad directed the Australian to surrender the runner-up spot to his teammate following he had fallen behind because of a slow pit stop. Some fans did not take well to what was considered the team unnecessarily interfering with their drivers.

The championship leader has won the last two races, in Mexico City and São Paulo, and was booed on the winner's rostrum at each, leaving him unmoved. "Once you are leading, many people try to bring you down. They do not like seeing you winning. I consider it a good thing," he remarked.

"It makes me laugh. When I was on the podium in Interlagos, I truly loved it. The experience was quite satisfying. At last you feel like you're doing success.

"It doesn't bother me, provided that I come out on top. As long as I believe I'm doing it the correct manner, which I feel like that's the case, as long as I feel like I am dedicating effort into remaining true to myself and those kinds of things, then I am not concerned with external opinions."

Las Vegas, meanwhile, needs to be mastered, and it is a circuit suited to the British team. The layout has similarities with Canada and Baku: low downforce, cool temperatures, and low grip. They are the sole pair of tracks in the current championship where McLaren have been unable to secure a single podium place, and the leader was circumspect once more about their chances in Nevada. Yet, his task in the immediate future is straightforward: finish in ahead of his teammate and the points he needs will come.

Friday Running Sees Mixed Results for Championship Rivals

The Ferrari driver topped the leaderboard in FP1 on what was remained a sandy and very slippery surface. The Williams racer was second, with the Red Bull star fourth, the McLaren ace in P6, and Piastri eighth. In the more representative evening session of FP2, Norris was fastest ahead of the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, with Piastri down in fourteenth; however, the practice was interrupted for almost all of the final 20 minutes of running to check a suspected loose manhole cover at turn 17.

This problem is taken seriously on a temporary track where, at the inaugural Las Vegas GP held in 2023, a loose drain cover struck the Ferrari, heavily harming it and leading to the session to be ended.

Mercedes Confirm Stake Transaction

Mercedes have confirmed that their team principal Toto Wolff has divested a 15% stake in his investment firm, equating to a 5% share in the team, to US tycoon George Kurtz. The investor is the chief executive and creator of the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. The team principal will remain as boss and may receive as much as £230 million from the sale, with the Brackley-based outfit having been appraised at £4.57 billion, a new high for an F1 team.