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

Norris currently has a two-dozen point advantage over fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and is ahead of Max Verstappen by nearly fifty points, with only a maximum of 83 points available across the final three events. But, after staging a remarkable recovery from a significant deficit 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 easily turn the opposite way once more as much as I don't want it to," he commented. "That's racing, you know. Sometimes you also have luck. You can end up unlucky. No matter what happens. It's not worth becoming overjoyed or thinking about it. I still do see it as a goal that's quite far away."

Norris has found his best form at a critical juncture—having struggled with the vehicle in the opening half of the season—at the same time that Piastri has lost the disciplined, almost perfect composure that previously made him seem to be a future title winner. Importantly, Norris maintained a impressive level of composure throughout, insisting even in the face of challenges—such as his retirement from the Zandvoort race—that he would stick to his gameplan and work each session with the same unwavering focus on specifics. It has yielded results.

All the while, McLaren have gone to no little effort to try to preserve a fair competition for their two drivers, and it has on occasion been something of torturous experience, most notably at Monza when the squad directed Piastri to cede the runner-up spot to Norris following he had lost the spot because of a delayed tire change. Certain spectators did not take well to what was considered McLaren unnecessarily interfering with their drivers.

The championship leader has claimed victory in the last two races, in Mexico and Brazil, and was jeered on the podium at both, leaving him unfazed. "Once you are on top, a lot of people try to bring you down. They do not like seeing you succeeding. I consider it a good thing," he said.

"It just makes me laugh. When I was on the podium in Brazil, I really loved it. It was quite enjoyable. At last you feel like you're doing something right.

"I don't mind, as long as I win. As long as I feel like I'm doing it the correct manner, 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 similar principles, then I'm not too fussed about the rest of it."

Las Vegas, on the other hand, needs to be conquered, and it is not a track ideal for the McLaren. It shares similarities with Montreal and Azerbaijan: low downforce, chilly conditions, and slippery surfaces. These are the sole pair of tracks this season where McLaren have been unable to claim at least one top-three finish, and Norris was cautious once more about their chances this weekend. Yet, his objective in the short term is simple: end the race in ahead of Piastri and the points he needs will come.

Practice Sees Mixed Outcomes for Championship Rivals

The Ferrari driver topped the leaderboard in FP1 on what was still a dusty and extremely slippery surface. Alex Albon was second, with Verstappen in fourth, the McLaren ace sixth, and the Australian in eighth. In the more representative evening session of second practice, Norris was fastest from the Mercedes of the Italian rookie, with his teammate down in fourteenth; though, the practice lost nearly the last third of running to check a suspected loose manhole cover at turn 17.

The issue is taken seriously on a temporary track where, at the inaugural Nevada GP held in 2023, a loose drain cover smashed into Carlos Sainz's Ferrari, severely harming it and leading to the session to be ended.

Mercedes Confirm Stake Sale

Mercedes have revealed that their boss the Austrian executive has sold a fifteen percent share in his investment firm, equating to a five percent ownership in the team, to US tycoon George Kurtz. Kurtz is the CEO and founder of the digital protection firm CrowdStrike. The team principal will remain as boss and could earn up to £230m from the deal, with Mercedes having been valued at £4.57 billion, a record for an F1 team.