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Despite all hype around the Sin City Grand Prix, Lando Norris is maintaining a level head regarding his chances of securing his maiden world title.

The British driver presently holds a 24-point advantage over teammate Oscar Piastri and is ahead of Max Verstappen by 49 points, with only a maximum of 83 points up for grabs across the remaining trio of events. But, after staging a remarkable recovery from 34 points behind Piastri following the Zandvoort race in the summer, Norris is focused on performing with the methodical approach that lifted him to the lead of the championship.

"Things can easily turn the opposite way again as much as I hope it doesn't," he stated. "That's racing, you know. Sometimes you also have luck. You can end up unfortunate. No matter what happens. It's not worth getting excited or dwelling on it. I continue to view it as a goal that's quite far away."

Norris has discovered his peak performance at a critical juncture—having struggled with the vehicle in the first part of the season—at the same time that his teammate has shed the disciplined, nearly flawless ease that previously made him seem to be a champion in waiting. Importantly, Norris kept a remarkable level of equanimity all along, asserting despite setbacks—like his withdrawal from the Dutch GP—that he would adhere to his strategy and work every outing with the identical unwavering focus on specifics. This approach has yielded results.

Meanwhile, the team have gone to no little effort to try to maintain a level playing field for their pair of racers, and it has on occasion been a rather torturous process, especially at Monza when the team instructed Piastri to cede second place to Norris after he had lost the spot due to a delayed tire change. Certain spectators were unhappy with what was considered the team unnecessarily interfering with their drivers.

Norris has claimed victory in the previous pair of races, in Mexico and Brazil, and was jeered on the podium at both, leaving him unmoved. "When you're on top, many individuals try to bring you down. They don't want to see you succeeding. I see it as a good thing," he remarked.

"It just amuses me. While standing on the podium in Interlagos, I really loved it. The experience was very satisfying. At last you feel like you're doing something right.

"It doesn't bother me, as long as I win. If I believe I'm doing it the right way, which I feel like that's the case, so long as I feel like I'm putting hard work into remaining true to myself and those kinds of things, then I'm not too fussed with the rest of it."

Vegas, meanwhile, must be conquered, and it is not a track suited to the McLaren. It shares similarities with Canada and Baku: minimal aerodynamic grip, cool temperatures, and slippery surfaces. They are the sole pair of tracks this season where McLaren have been unable to claim a single top-three finish, and the leader was cautious once more about their chances this weekend. Still, his task in the immediate future is simple: finish in ahead of Piastri and the championship tally he needs will come.

Practice Shows Varied Results for Title Contenders

The Ferrari driver topped the leaderboard in FP1 on what was still a sandy and very slippery surface. The Williams racer was runner-up, with the Red Bull star in fourth, Norris in P6, and the Australian eighth. In the more representative evening session of second practice, Norris was quickest from the Silver Arrows of Kimi Antonelli, with his teammate down in fourteenth; though, the practice was interrupted for nearly the last third of track time to check a suspected loose manhole cover at turn 17.

This problem is taken seriously on a street circuit where, at the inaugural Las Vegas GP held in 2023, a dislodged drain cover struck Carlos Sainz's Ferrari, heavily harming it and leading to the session to be aborted.

The German Team Confirm Stake Sale

Mercedes have confirmed that their boss the Austrian executive has sold a fifteen percent share in his holding company, representing a five percent ownership in the squad, to American billionaire 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 up to £230m from the deal, with Mercedes having been valued at £4.57 billion, a new high for an Formula 1 constructor.