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Despite the hype around the Las Vegas Grand Prix, McLaren's lead driver is keeping a calm demeanor about his prospects of claiming his first world title.

The British driver presently has a two-dozen point lead over teammate Oscar Piastri and is ahead of Max Verstappen by 49 points, with just a maximum of 83 points available across the final three races. But, after staging a extraordinary comeback from 34 points behind Piastri following the Zandvoort race in the summer, Norris is focused on executing with the clinical precision that lifted him to the top of the championship.

"It can quickly turn the opposite way again as much as I don't want it to," he commented. "That's motorsport, as we all know. Sometimes you also have luck. You can end up unlucky. Whatever it may be. There's really not worth getting excited or thinking about it. I continue to do see it as something that's quite far away."

Norris has found his peak performance at a crucial moment—having struggled with the vehicle in the first part of the campaign—while Piastri has lost the disciplined, nearly flawless ease that previously made him seem to be a future title winner. Notably, Norris kept a remarkable level of equanimity throughout, insisting even in the face of challenges—such as his retirement from the Zandvoort race—that he would stick to his strategy and approach each session with the same relentless attention to detail. It has yielded results.

All the while, McLaren have worked hard to try to preserve a level playing field for their two drivers, and it has on occasion been a rather torturous process, most notably at Monza when the team directed Piastri to surrender the runner-up spot to Norris after he had lost the spot because of a delayed tire change. Some fans were unhappy with what was considered McLaren unnecessarily interfering with their drivers.

The championship leader has won the last two races, in Mexico City and Brazil, and was jeered on the winner's rostrum at each, yet he remained unfazed. "When you're on top, a lot of people want to bring you down. They do not want to see you succeeding. I consider it a positive sign," he remarked.

"It just amuses me. While standing on the winner's stage in Interlagos, I really loved it. The experience was quite enjoyable. At last you feel like you are achieving something right.

"I don't mind, as long as I win. As long as I believe I am competing the right way, which I feel like that's the case, as long as I am confident I'm putting hard work into being who I am and similar principles, then I am not concerned with external opinions."

Las Vegas, on the other hand, must be conquered, and it is a circuit ideal for the British team. It shares similarities with Canada and Baku: minimal aerodynamic grip, cool temperatures, and low grip. These are the sole pair of tracks this season where McLaren have been unable to claim a single top-three finish, and Norris was circumspect once more about their chances this weekend. Yet, his task in the immediate future is straightforward: finish in ahead of his teammate and the points he requires will come.

Friday Running Sees Varied Outcomes for Championship Contenders

The Ferrari driver topped the leaderboard in FP1 on what was remained a dusty and extremely low-grip track. Alex Albon was second, with the Red Bull star fourth, Norris in P6, and the Australian eighth. During the more indicative evening session of FP2, the Briton was fastest ahead of the Mercedes of the Italian rookie, with Piastri 14th; though, the session was interrupted for almost all of the last third of running to check a suspected loose drain cover at the penultimate corner.

The issue is treated with caution on a temporary track where, at the first Nevada GP held in 2023, a dislodged manhole struck Carlos Sainz's Ferrari, severely damaging it and causing the practice to be ended.

Mercedes Confirm Stake Transaction

The eight-time constructors' champions have revealed that their team principal the Austrian executive has divested a 15% stake in his holding company, representing a 5% share in the squad, to American billionaire the cybersecurity magnate. The investor is the CEO and founder of the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. The team principal will stay on as team principal and may receive up to £230m from the sale, with the Brackley-based outfit having been valued at £4.57bn, a new high for an F1 team.