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Despite all excitement surrounding the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Lando Norris is keeping a level head about his chances of claiming his first drivers' championship.

The British driver currently has a 24-point advantage over fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and leads Max Verstappen by 49 points, with just a maximum of 83 points available across the final three races. But, after staging a extraordinary recovery from 34 points behind Piastri following the Dutch Grand Prix in the summer, Norris is focused on performing with the clinical precision that lifted him to the top of the standings.

"Things can easily turn in the other direction once more even though I don't want it to," he stated. "That's racing, as we all know. Sometimes you also have luck. You can also be unfortunate. No matter what happens. It's no point getting excited or dwelling on it. I continue to view it as a goal that's quite distant."

The 26-year-old has found his best form at a critical juncture—having struggled with the vehicle in the first part of the campaign—at the same time that Piastri has shed the disciplined, nearly flawless ease that had for so long made him appear to be a champion in waiting. Importantly, Norris maintained a impressive level of equanimity throughout, insisting despite challenges—such as his withdrawal from the Zandvoort race—that he would stick to his strategy and work every outing with the same unwavering attention to detail. It has yielded results.

Meanwhile, the team have worked hard to try to maintain a level playing field for their pair of racers, and it has at times been something of torturous experience, most notably at Monza when the squad instructed the Australian to surrender second place to his teammate after he had lost the spot because of a delayed tire change. Some fans did not take well to what was seen as the team needlessly interfering with their drivers.

The championship leader has claimed victory in the previous pair of grands prix, in Mexico and Brazil, and was jeered on the podium at each, leaving him unmoved. "When you're leading, a lot of individuals want to bring you down. They do not like seeing you succeeding. I see it as a good thing," he remarked.

"It just makes me laugh. When I was on the podium in Interlagos, I truly enjoyed it. The experience was quite satisfying. At last you sense that you are achieving success.

"It doesn't bother me, as long as I come out on top. As long as I believe I am competing the correct way, and I think that's the case, so long as I feel like I am dedicating hard work into remaining true to myself and those kinds of things, then I am not concerned with external opinions."

Vegas, meanwhile, needs to be mastered, and it is not a track suited to the McLaren. The layout has characteristics with Montreal and Baku: low downforce, cool temperatures, and slippery surfaces. They are the only two circuits this season where McLaren have failed to claim at least one top-three finish, and Norris was cautious again about their prospects this weekend. Yet, his task in the immediate future is simple: end the race in front of Piastri and the points he needs will come.

Friday Running Shows Mixed Results for Championship Contenders

Charles Leclerc topped the times in first practice on what was still a dusty and very slippery track. Alex Albon was second, with Verstappen in fourth, Norris sixth, and Piastri eighth. During the more representative night running of FP2, the Briton was quickest from the Mercedes of the Italian rookie, with Piastri down in fourteenth; however, the practice was interrupted for nearly the last third of track time to inspect a reported unsecured drain cover at turn 17.

This problem is treated with caution on a street circuit where, at the inaugural Las Vegas GP staged in 2023, a dislodged drain cover smashed into Carlos Sainz's Ferrari, heavily damaging it and leading to the practice to be aborted.

The German Team Announce Stake Transaction

The eight-time constructors' champions have confirmed that their boss the Austrian executive has divested a 15% stake in his investment firm, representing a five percent ownership in the team, to US tycoon the cybersecurity magnate. 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 up to £230 million from the deal, with Mercedes having been appraised at £4.57bn, a record for an Formula 1 constructor.