🔗 Share this article

Despite the excitement surrounding the Sin City Grand Prix, Lando Norris is keeping a calm demeanor regarding his chances of securing his first drivers' championship.

The British driver presently has a two-dozen point advantage over teammate Oscar Piastri and is ahead of Max Verstappen by 49 points, with only a maximum of eighty-three points available across the final three races. However, after staging a extraordinary comeback from a significant deficit his teammate after the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Norris is concentrating on performing with the clinical precision that lifted him to the top of the championship.

"Things can quickly go in the other direction again as much as I don't want it to," he commented. "That's racing, you know. You can also have luck. You can end up unlucky. No matter what happens. It's no point getting excited or dwelling on it. I continue to view it as something that's quite distant."

The 26-year-old has found his peak performance at a crucial juncture—after difficulties with the vehicle in the first part of the season—while his teammate has lost the controlled, nearly flawless ease that had for so long made him appear to be a future title winner. Importantly, Norris maintained a remarkable level of composure all along, insisting even in the face of setbacks—like his retirement from the Zandvoort race—that he would adhere to his gameplan and work each session with the same relentless attention to detail. It has paid off.

Meanwhile, McLaren have worked hard to attempt to maintain a level playing field for their pair of racers, and it has on occasion been a rather torturous experience, especially at Monza when the team instructed the Australian to surrender the runner-up spot to Norris after he had fallen behind due to a slow pit stop. Certain spectators did not take well to what was considered the team needlessly interfering with their competitors.

The championship leader has won the previous pair of races, in Mexico City and Brazil, and was booed on the podium at both, yet he remained unfazed. "Once you are leading, many individuals try to undermine you. They don't want to see you winning. I consider it a positive sign," he remarked.

"It just makes me laugh. While standing on the winner's stage in Brazil, I truly loved it. It was quite satisfying. You finally feel like you are achieving success.

"It doesn't bother me, provided that I come out on top. As long as I feel like I am competing the right manner, and I think I am, as long as I feel like I am dedicating effort into being who I am and similar principles, then I am not concerned with external opinions."

Las Vegas, meanwhile, needs to be conquered, and it is not a track suited to the British team. It shares characteristics with Montreal and Azerbaijan: low downforce, chilly conditions, and low grip. They are the only two circuits this season where McLaren have failed to claim at least one podium place, and Norris was circumspect again about their prospects in Nevada. Still, his task in the immediate future is simple: finish in ahead of Piastri and the championship tally he requires will come.

Friday Running Shows Mixed Results for Title Rivals

Charles Leclerc led the leaderboard in first practice on what was remained a sandy and extremely slippery track. Alex Albon was runner-up, with Verstappen in fourth, the McLaren ace in P6, and the Australian eighth. In the more representative evening session of second practice, Norris was quickest ahead of the Mercedes of the Italian rookie, with Piastri down in fourteenth; however, the practice lost almost all of the last third of running to inspect a reported loose drain cover at turn 17.

The issue is taken seriously on a temporary track where, at the inaugural Las Vegas GP held in 2023, a loose manhole struck the Ferrari, heavily harming it and leading to the session to be aborted.

The German Team Confirm Stake Sale

The eight-time constructors' champions have confirmed that their team principal Toto Wolff has divested a 15% stake in his holding company, equating to a 5% share in the team, to US tycoon the cybersecurity magnate. Kurtz is the CEO and founder of the cybersecurity company the tech giant. Wolff will remain as boss and could earn up to £230m from the deal, with the Brackley-based outfit having been appraised at £4.57 billion, a new high for an F1 team.