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Despite all hype surrounding the Las Vegas Grand Prix, McLaren's lead driver is keeping a calm demeanor about his chances of claiming his maiden drivers' championship.

The British driver currently has a 24-point advantage over fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and is ahead of Max Verstappen by nearly fifty points, with just up to eighty-three points up for grabs across the final three races. However, after pulling off a remarkable recovery from a significant deficit his teammate after 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.

"It can quickly go the opposite way once more as much as I don't want it to," he commented. "That's racing, you know. Sometimes you get lucky. You can end up unlucky. Whatever it may be. There's really not worth getting excited or thinking about it. I continue to do see it as something that's quite distant."

Norris has found his peak performance at a crucial moment—after difficulties with the vehicle in the opening half of the campaign—while his teammate has lost the disciplined, almost flawless composure that previously made him appear to be a champion in waiting. Notably, Norris kept a impressive level of equanimity all along, insisting despite setbacks—like his retirement from the Zandvoort race—that he would adhere to his strategy and approach each session with the same relentless focus on specifics. This approach has yielded results.

Meanwhile, the team have worked hard to attempt to preserve a level playing field for their pair of racers, and it has at times been a rather torturous process, especially at Monza when the team directed Piastri to cede second place to Norris following he had fallen behind because of a slow pit stop. Certain spectators did not take well to what was seen as the team unnecessarily manipulating their competitors.

Norris has won the previous pair of grands prix, in Mexico and São Paulo, and was booed on the podium at both, leaving him unmoved. "Once you are on top, many individuals want to undermine you. They don't like seeing you succeeding. I consider it a positive sign," he remarked.

"It makes me laugh. While standing on the podium in Brazil, I truly enjoyed it. It was very enjoyable. At last you feel like you are achieving something right.

"I don't mind, as long as I come out on top. If I believe I am competing the right manner, and I think I am, so long as I feel like 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, meanwhile, must be conquered, and it is a circuit suited to the British team. It shares similarities with Montreal and Baku: low downforce, cool temperatures, and low grip. These are the sole pair of tracks in the current championship where the papaya squad have failed to claim at least one top-three finish, and the leader was circumspect again about their chances this weekend. Yet, his objective in the short term is straightforward: finish in front of his teammate and the championship tally he requires will follow.

Practice Shows Mixed Outcomes for Title Contenders

The Ferrari driver topped the leaderboard in first practice on what was still a sandy and very low-grip surface. Alex Albon was second, with Verstappen in fourth, the McLaren ace in P6, and Piastri in eighth. During the more representative night running of second practice, the Briton was quickest ahead of the Silver Arrows of Kimi Antonelli, with his teammate 14th; though, the session lost almost all of the last third of running to inspect a reported unsecured drain cover at turn 17.

The issue is taken seriously on a temporary track where, at the inaugural Las Vegas GP staged in 2023, a dislodged manhole struck Carlos Sainz's Ferrari, severely harming it and causing the practice to be ended.

The German Team Announce Ownership Transaction

The eight-time constructors' champions have revealed that their team principal the Austrian executive has sold a 15% stake in his holding company, representing a five percent ownership in the squad, to American billionaire George Kurtz. The investor is the chief executive and creator of the cybersecurity company the tech giant. The team principal will remain as team principal and may receive up to £230m from the sale, with the Brackley-based outfit having been valued at £4.57 billion, a new high for an Formula 1 constructor.