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Amid all hype surrounding the Sin City Grand Prix, Lando Norris is keeping a level head about his chances of claiming his first world title.

Norris presently holds a two-dozen point lead over fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and leads Max Verstappen by 49 points, with just a maximum of 83 points available across the remaining trio of events. However, after pulling off a extraordinary comeback from 34 points behind Piastri following the Zandvoort race in the summer, Norris is focused on performing with the clinical precision that lifted him to the top of the championship.

"Things can easily go the opposite way again as much as I hope it doesn't," he stated. "That's motorsport, as we all know. You can also have luck. Other times you end up unlucky. No matter what happens. It's not worth getting excited or thinking about it. I still do see it as a goal that's quite distant."

The 26-year-old has discovered his peak performance at a critical moment—having struggled with the car in the opening half of the season—at the same time that Piastri has lost the disciplined, almost flawless ease that previously made him seem to be a future title winner. Importantly, Norris kept a impressive level of composure all along, asserting even in the face of setbacks—like his withdrawal from the Zandvoort race—that he would stick to his gameplan and approach each session with the same relentless attention to detail. It has paid off.

Meanwhile, McLaren have gone to no little effort to try to maintain a fair competition for their two drivers, and it has on occasion been a rather torturous process, most notably at the Italian Grand Prix when the team instructed Piastri to surrender the runner-up spot to his teammate after he had lost the spot because of a delayed tire change. Certain spectators did not take well to what was seen as the team unnecessarily interfering with their drivers.

Norris has claimed victory in the previous pair of races, in Mexico and São Paulo, and was booed on the podium at both, yet he remained unmoved. "Once you are leading, many people try to bring you down. They don't want to see you winning. I see it as a positive sign," he remarked.

"It just amuses me. While standing on the podium in Brazil, I really enjoyed it. The experience was quite enjoyable. You finally feel like you're doing success.

"It doesn't bother me, as long as I come out on top. If I feel like I am competing the correct way, which I feel like that's the case, so long as I feel like I am dedicating hard work into being who I am and similar principles, then I'm not too fussed about external opinions."

Las Vegas, meanwhile, must be conquered, and it is not a track ideal for the McLaren. It shares similarities with Canada and Azerbaijan: low downforce, chilly conditions, and slippery surfaces. They are the sole pair of tracks this season where McLaren have been unable to secure at least one top-three finish, and Norris was circumspect again about their chances in Nevada. Still, his task in the short term is simple: end the race in ahead of his teammate and the points he needs will follow.

Friday Running Shows Mixed Results for Title Rivals

Charles Leclerc led the times in FP1 on what was still a sandy and extremely slippery surface. Alex Albon was second, with Verstappen fourth, the McLaren ace sixth, and Piastri in eighth. In the more representative evening session of FP2, the Briton was fastest from the Silver Arrows of the Italian rookie, with Piastri 14th; though, the practice lost nearly the final 20 minutes of track time to check a reported loose drain cover at the penultimate corner.

This problem is treated with caution on a temporary track where, at the first Las Vegas GP held in 2023, a loose drain cover smashed into Carlos Sainz's Ferrari, heavily harming it and causing the practice to be ended.

Mercedes Confirm Ownership Sale

The eight-time constructors' champions have revealed that their team principal Toto Wolff has divested a fifteen percent share in his holding company, equating to a five percent ownership in the squad, to US tycoon the cybersecurity magnate. Kurtz is the chief executive and creator of the digital protection firm the tech giant. Wolff will stay on as boss and may receive up to £230m from the sale, with the Brackley-based outfit having been appraised at £4.57 billion, a record for an F1 team.