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Amid the excitement around the Sin City Grand Prix, McLaren's lead driver is keeping a calm demeanor about his prospects of claiming his maiden world title.

Norris currently holds a two-dozen point lead over fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and is ahead of Max Verstappen by nearly fifty points, with just a maximum of eighty-three points available across the final three races. But, after staging a extraordinary comeback from a significant deficit his teammate following the Zandvoort race in August, Norris is concentrating on performing with the methodical approach that propelled him to the top of the standings.

"It can easily go in the other direction again even though I hope it doesn't," he commented. "That's racing, you know. Sometimes you get lucky. Other times you end up unlucky. No matter what happens. It's not worth becoming overjoyed or dwelling on it. I continue to view it as something that's quite far away."

The 26-year-old has discovered his peak performance at a critical juncture—having struggled with the car in the opening half of the campaign—at the same time that his teammate has shed the controlled, nearly perfect composure that had for so long made him appear to be a champion in waiting. Importantly, Norris kept a remarkable level of composure throughout, insisting despite setbacks—such as his withdrawal from the Dutch GP—that he would adhere to his gameplan and approach every outing with the identical relentless attention to detail. This approach has paid off.

All the while, the team have worked hard to try to maintain a level playing field for their pair of racers, and it has on occasion been a rather difficult process, most notably at the Italian Grand Prix when the team instructed the Australian to cede second place to his teammate after he had lost the spot because of a slow pit stop. Some fans were unhappy with what was seen as McLaren unnecessarily manipulating their drivers.

Norris has won the last two grands prix, in Mexico City and Brazil, and was jeered on the podium at both, yet he remained unmoved. "Once you are leading, a lot of people want to undermine you. They don't like seeing you succeeding. I see it as a positive sign," he said.

"It makes me laugh. When I was on the podium in Interlagos, I truly loved it. The experience was very satisfying. You finally feel like you're doing success.

"It doesn't bother me, as long as I come out on top. If I believe I am competing the correct manner, which I feel like that's the case, so 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 with the rest of it."

Las Vegas, meanwhile, needs to be conquered, and it is not a track ideal for the British team. The layout has characteristics with Montreal and Baku: minimal aerodynamic grip, cool temperatures, and low grip. They are the sole pair of circuits this season where the papaya squad have been unable to secure a single top-three finish, and Norris was cautious once more about their prospects this weekend. Yet, his objective in the immediate future is straightforward: end the race in ahead of his teammate and the points he needs will follow.

Practice Shows Varied Outcomes for Championship Rivals

The Ferrari driver led the times in FP1 on what was remained a sandy and extremely low-grip surface. The Williams racer was second, with the Red Bull star fourth, Norris sixth, and Piastri in eighth. In the more representative evening session of FP2, the Briton was fastest ahead of the Silver Arrows of Kimi Antonelli, with his teammate 14th; however, the session lost almost all of the final 20 minutes of track time to inspect a reported unsecured drain cover at the penultimate corner.

This problem is treated with caution on a street circuit where, at the inaugural Las Vegas GP staged in 2023, a loose drain cover struck the Ferrari, severely damaging it and leading to the session to be ended.

The German Team Confirm Ownership Transaction

Mercedes have revealed that their team principal the Austrian executive has divested a 15% stake in his investment firm, equating to a 5% share in the team, to US tycoon George Kurtz. Kurtz is the chief executive and creator of the digital protection firm the tech giant. The team principal will remain as boss and may receive as much as £230m from the deal, with Mercedes having been appraised at £4.57 billion, a record for an F1 team.