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Amid all hype around the Las Vegas Grand Prix, McLaren's lead driver is keeping a calm demeanor about his prospects of claiming his maiden world title.

The British driver currently has a two-dozen point advantage over fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and is ahead of Max Verstappen by 49 points, with only a maximum of 83 points up for grabs across the remaining trio of races. However, after staging a extraordinary comeback from a significant deficit his teammate after the Zandvoort race in the summer, Norris is focused on performing with the methodical approach that propelled him to the lead of the standings.

"Things can quickly turn the opposite way again even though I don't want it to," he commented. "That's racing, you know. You can get lucky. You can end up unlucky. Whatever it may be. There's really no point becoming overjoyed or thinking about it. I still view it as a goal that remains far away."

Norris has found 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 disciplined, nearly perfect composure that previously made him appear to be a future title winner. Notably, Norris kept a remarkable level of composure all along, asserting even in the face of setbacks—like his withdrawal from the Zandvoort race—that he would stick to his strategy and work each session with the identical relentless attention to detail. This approach has paid off.

Meanwhile, McLaren have worked hard to attempt to maintain a fair competition for their two drivers, and it has on occasion been something of torturous process, especially at the Italian Grand Prix when the team directed the Australian to cede second place to Norris following he had fallen behind because of a slow pit stop. Some fans did not take well to what was considered McLaren needlessly interfering with their drivers.

Norris has won the previous pair of grands prix, in Mexico City and São Paulo, and was jeered on the podium at both, leaving him unfazed. "When you're on top, a lot of individuals try to bring you down. They do not want to see you succeeding. I see it as a positive sign," he said.

"It just makes me laugh. When I was on the winner's stage in Interlagos, I really enjoyed it. It was quite enjoyable. You finally feel like you're doing success.

"It doesn't bother me, as long as I win. If I feel like I'm doing it the right way, and I think I am, so long as I am confident I'm putting hard work into being who I am and those kinds of things, then I am not concerned about external opinions."

Las Vegas, on the other hand, must be mastered, and it is a circuit ideal for the British team. The layout has similarities with Canada and Azerbaijan: low downforce, chilly conditions, and slippery surfaces. They are the only two tracks this season where McLaren have been unable to secure a single top-three finish, and the leader was circumspect once more about their prospects this weekend. Yet, his task in the short term is straightforward: finish in front of his teammate and the points he needs will follow.

Friday Running Sees Varied Outcomes for Championship Contenders

Charles Leclerc led the leaderboard in first practice on what was remained a sandy and extremely low-grip surface. The Williams racer was second, with Verstappen fourth, Norris in P6, and Piastri in eighth. During the more indicative night running of second practice, the Briton was quickest from the Silver Arrows of the Italian rookie, with his teammate 14th; though, the practice was interrupted for almost all of the last third of running to check a reported loose manhole cover at turn 17.

The issue is taken seriously on a temporary track where, at the inaugural Las Vegas GP held in 2023, a dislodged manhole smashed into the Ferrari, heavily harming it and leading to the session to be ended.

Mercedes Announce Ownership Transaction

Mercedes have confirmed 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 digital protection firm the tech giant. The team principal will stay on as team principal and could earn as much as £230m from the deal, with the Brackley-based outfit having been appraised at £4.57 billion, a record for an F1 team.