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Amid all hype around the Las Vegas Grand Prix, McLaren's lead driver is keeping a level head about his prospects of securing his maiden drivers' championship.

The British driver presently has a 24-point lead over teammate Oscar Piastri and is ahead of Max Verstappen by nearly fifty points, with only up to eighty-three points available across the final three races. But, after pulling off a extraordinary comeback from a significant deficit his teammate following the Zandvoort race in August, Norris is concentrating on performing with the clinical precision that lifted him to the top of the championship.

"It can easily turn the opposite way once more as much as I don't want it to," he stated. "That's motorsport, as we all know. Sometimes you also have luck. Other times you also be unfortunate. No matter what happens. There's really no point getting excited or dwelling on it. I continue to do see it as a goal that's quite distant."

The 26-year-old has found his best form at a crucial juncture—having struggled with the vehicle in the opening half of the campaign—at the same time that Piastri has shed the controlled, nearly flawless ease that previously made him appear to be a champion in waiting. Importantly, Norris maintained a remarkable level of equanimity all along, insisting despite challenges—such as his retirement from the Dutch GP—that he would stick to his strategy and approach every outing with the identical relentless focus on specifics. It has paid off.

All the while, 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, most notably at the Italian Grand Prix when the squad directed the Australian to surrender second place to his teammate after he had fallen behind because of a slow pit stop. Certain spectators were unhappy with what was considered the team needlessly manipulating their competitors.

The championship leader has claimed victory in the previous pair of grands prix, in Mexico and São Paulo, and was booed on the podium at both, yet he remained unfazed. "Once you are on top, many individuals try to undermine you. They don't like seeing you winning. I consider it a good thing," he said.

"It makes me laugh. While standing on the winner's stage in Brazil, I really loved it. The experience was very satisfying. At last you sense that you're doing success.

"It doesn't bother me, provided that I win. As long as I feel like I'm doing it the correct way, and I think that's the case, as long as I am confident I am dedicating hard work into being who I am and similar principles, then I am not concerned about the rest of it."

Las Vegas, meanwhile, needs to be mastered, and it is not a track ideal for the McLaren. The layout has characteristics with Canada and Baku: minimal aerodynamic grip, cool temperatures, and low grip. They are the sole pair of tracks this season where the papaya squad have been unable to claim a single top-three finish, and the leader was circumspect once more about their chances in Nevada. Yet, his objective in the short term is straightforward: finish in ahead of his teammate and the championship tally he requires will come.

Practice Sees Varied Results for Championship Rivals

Charles Leclerc led the times in FP1 on what was remained a dusty and very low-grip track. Alex Albon was second, with the Red Bull star fourth, Norris sixth, and Piastri in eighth. In the more representative night running of second practice, the Briton was fastest from the Silver Arrows of the Italian rookie, with Piastri down in fourteenth; though, the session was interrupted for nearly the final 20 minutes of track time to check a suspected unsecured manhole cover at turn 17.

The issue is treated with caution on a temporary track where, at the inaugural Las Vegas GP held in 2023, a loose manhole struck the Ferrari, severely damaging it and leading to the session to be aborted.

Mercedes Announce Stake Sale

The eight-time constructors' champions have revealed that their boss the Austrian executive has sold a 15% stake in his holding company, representing a 5% share in the team, to American billionaire George Kurtz. The investor is the CEO and founder of the cybersecurity company the tech giant. The team principal will stay on as boss and may receive as much as £230 million from the sale, with Mercedes having been valued at £4.57 billion, a new high for an F1 team.