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Amid the excitement surrounding the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Lando Norris is maintaining a level head regarding his chances of claiming his first world title.

Norris presently has a two-dozen point lead over fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and leads Max Verstappen by 49 points, with just up to eighty-three points up for grabs across the remaining trio of events. However, after staging a extraordinary recovery from 34 points behind his teammate following the Dutch Grand Prix in the summer, Norris is focused on executing with the methodical approach that lifted him to the lead of the championship.

"Things can easily go in the other direction once more even though I hope it doesn't," 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 becoming overjoyed or dwelling on it. I continue to do see it as something that remains distant."

Norris has discovered his peak performance at a crucial moment—having struggled with the car in the first part of the season—at the same time that Piastri has lost the controlled, nearly perfect ease that had for so long made him appear to be a champion in waiting. Importantly, Norris kept a remarkable level of composure throughout, insisting even in the face of setbacks—such as his retirement from the Dutch GP—that he would stick to his strategy and work each session with the same unwavering attention to detail. It has yielded results.

Meanwhile, McLaren have gone to no little effort to try to maintain a fair competition for their pair of racers, and it has on occasion been something of torturous experience, most notably at the Italian Grand Prix when the squad directed Piastri to surrender the runner-up spot to his teammate after he had lost the spot due to a delayed tire change. Certain spectators did not take well to what was considered the team unnecessarily manipulating their drivers.

The championship leader has claimed victory in the last two races, in Mexico City and São Paulo, and was jeered on the winner's rostrum at each, leaving him unmoved. "Once you are on top, a lot of individuals try to undermine you. They do not want to see you winning. I consider it a positive sign," he said.

"It just makes me laugh. When I was on the winner's stage in Interlagos, I really loved it. It was quite satisfying. At last you sense that you're doing something right.

"I don't mind, as long as I come out on top. As long as I believe I'm doing it the correct manner, which I feel like I am, as long as I feel like I am dedicating effort into remaining true to myself and those kinds of things, then I'm not too fussed about the rest of it."

Las Vegas, meanwhile, must be mastered, and it is a circuit suited to the British team. The layout has characteristics with Montreal and Azerbaijan: minimal aerodynamic grip, cool temperatures, and low grip. They are the only two tracks in the current championship where McLaren have been unable to secure at least one top-three finish, and the leader was cautious again about their chances in Nevada. Still, his objective in the immediate future is straightforward: finish in front of his teammate and the points he requires will come.

Practice Shows Mixed Results for Championship Contenders

Charles Leclerc led the times in first practice on what was remained a sandy and very low-grip track. The Williams racer was second, with the Red Bull star in fourth, the McLaren ace sixth, and Piastri eighth. In the more representative evening session of FP2, the Briton was quickest from the Mercedes of the Italian rookie, with Piastri 14th; though, the session lost nearly the final 20 minutes of track time to inspect a suspected unsecured manhole cover at turn 17.

This problem is taken seriously on a street circuit where, at the first Las Vegas GP held in 2023, a dislodged manhole struck the Ferrari, heavily damaging it and leading to the session to be ended.

The German Team Confirm Stake Sale

The eight-time constructors' champions have revealed that their team principal Toto Wolff has sold a 15% stake in his holding company, representing a five percent ownership in the team, to US tycoon George Kurtz. The investor is the chief executive and creator of the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. The team principal will stay on as boss and may receive as much as £230m from the sale, with Mercedes having been appraised at £4.57bn, a record for an Formula 1 constructor.