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Despite the hype around the Sin City Grand Prix, McLaren's lead driver is keeping a calm demeanor about his prospects of claiming his maiden drivers' championship.

The British driver presently holds a 24-point lead over fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and leads Max Verstappen by 49 points, with only a maximum of eighty-three points available across the remaining trio of events. But, after staging a remarkable comeback from a significant deficit Piastri after the Zandvoort race in the summer, Norris is concentrating on performing with the methodical approach that lifted him to the lead of the championship.

"Things can easily go the opposite way once more even though I don't want it to," he commented. "That's motorsport, as we all know. You can also have luck. You can also be unlucky. No matter what happens. It's no point getting excited or thinking about it. I still do see it as a goal that's quite distant."

Norris has discovered his peak performance at a critical moment—after difficulties with the car in the opening half of the season—while his teammate has shed the disciplined, almost flawless ease that had for so long made him appear to be a future title winner. Importantly, Norris maintained a impressive level of equanimity all along, asserting despite setbacks—like his withdrawal from the Zandvoort race—that he would adhere to his gameplan and approach every outing with the same unwavering focus on specifics. It has paid off.

Meanwhile, the team have gone to no little effort to attempt to preserve a level playing field for their two drivers, and it has at times been something of difficult process, especially at Monza when the squad directed Piastri to surrender second place to his teammate following he had lost the spot because of a slow pit stop. Certain spectators did not take well to what was considered the team unnecessarily manipulating their drivers.

The championship leader has won the last two races, in Mexico and São Paulo, and was booed on the winner's rostrum at each, yet he remained unmoved. "Once you are on top, a lot of people try to undermine you. They do not want to see you succeeding. I consider it a positive sign," he remarked.

"It just makes me laugh. When I was on the podium in Interlagos, I truly enjoyed it. The experience was very enjoyable. At last you feel like you are achieving success.

"I don't mind, as long as I win. As long as I feel like I am competing the correct way, and I think that's the case, as long as I am confident I am dedicating effort into being who I am and those kinds of things, then I'm not too fussed about external opinions."

Las Vegas, on the other hand, needs to be mastered, and it is a circuit suited to the British team. It shares characteristics with Montreal and Azerbaijan: minimal aerodynamic grip, cool temperatures, and low grip. These are the sole pair of tracks in the current championship where the papaya squad have been unable to claim a single podium place, and the leader was cautious once more about their chances this weekend. Still, his task in the immediate future is straightforward: finish in front of his teammate and the championship tally he requires will come.

Friday Running Sees Mixed Results for Championship Contenders

The Ferrari driver led the leaderboard in FP1 on what was remained a dusty and extremely low-grip surface. The Williams racer was runner-up, with the Red Bull star fourth, the McLaren ace sixth, and Piastri in eighth. During the more representative night running of FP2, Norris was fastest from the Silver Arrows of Kimi Antonelli, with his teammate down in fourteenth; though, the practice lost almost all of the last third of track time to check a reported loose manhole cover at the penultimate corner.

This problem is treated with caution on a street circuit where, at the first Las Vegas GP held in 2023, a dislodged manhole smashed into the Ferrari, heavily harming it and leading to the practice to be ended.

Mercedes Announce Ownership Transaction

Mercedes have confirmed that their team principal the Austrian executive has divested a 15% stake in his holding company, representing a 5% share in the squad, to US tycoon George Kurtz. Kurtz is the chief executive and creator of the digital protection firm CrowdStrike. The team principal will stay on as boss and could earn up to £230m from the deal, with the Brackley-based outfit having been valued at £4.57bn, a record for an Formula 1 constructor.