🔗 Share this article

Amid all hype around the Sin City Grand Prix, Lando Norris is maintaining a calm demeanor regarding his prospects of claiming his first drivers' championship.

The British driver currently holds a 24-point advantage over teammate Oscar Piastri and is ahead of Max Verstappen by nearly fifty points, with only up to eighty-three points up for grabs across the final three races. But, after pulling off a remarkable comeback from a significant deficit Piastri after the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Norris is focused on executing with the methodical approach that propelled him to the lead of the championship.

"Things can easily turn in the other direction again even though I don't want it to," he stated. "That's motorsport, as we all know. You can get lucky. You can also be unlucky. No matter what happens. It's not worth becoming overjoyed or thinking about it. I continue to do see it as a goal that's quite far away."

Norris has discovered his peak performance at a crucial moment—having struggled with the car in the opening half of the season—at the same time that Piastri has shed the controlled, almost flawless ease that had for so long made him seem to be a champion in waiting. Notably, Norris kept a impressive level of equanimity throughout, asserting even in the face of setbacks—like his withdrawal from the Dutch GP—that he would adhere to his gameplan and approach each session with the same unwavering focus on specifics. This approach has paid off.

All the while, McLaren have worked hard to attempt to maintain a level playing field for their two drivers, and it has on occasion been a rather difficult process, most notably at the Italian Grand Prix when the team directed Piastri to surrender the runner-up spot to his teammate after he had lost the spot due to a slow pit stop. Some fans did not take well to what was considered McLaren 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 both, leaving him unfazed. "Once you are on top, a lot of people want to bring you down. They do not want to see you succeeding. I consider it a positive sign," he said.

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

"I don't mind, provided that I come out on top. As long as I believe I am competing the right manner, which I feel like that's the case, so long as I am confident I'm putting effort into remaining true to myself and similar principles, then I'm not too fussed with external opinions."

Las Vegas, meanwhile, must be conquered, and it is not a track ideal for the British team. It shares characteristics with Canada and Azerbaijan: minimal aerodynamic grip, chilly conditions, and slippery surfaces. These are the sole pair of tracks in the current championship where McLaren have been unable to claim a single top-three finish, and the leader was circumspect again about their chances in Nevada. Yet, his objective in the immediate future is straightforward: finish in ahead of Piastri and the points he requires will follow.

Practice Sees Varied Results for Championship Contenders

Charles Leclerc topped the times in first practice on what was still a sandy and very slippery surface. The Williams racer was second, with Verstappen fourth, Norris sixth, and the Australian eighth. In the more representative night running of FP2, Norris was fastest ahead of the Mercedes of the Italian rookie, with his teammate down in fourteenth; however, the session lost almost all of the final 20 minutes of track time to check a reported loose drain cover at turn 17.

This problem is taken seriously on a street circuit where, at the inaugural Nevada GP held in 2023, a dislodged drain cover smashed into the Ferrari, severely damaging it and causing the session to be ended.

The German Team Confirm Ownership Transaction

The eight-time constructors' champions have revealed that their team principal Toto Wolff has sold a 15% stake in his holding company, representing a five percent ownership in the squad, to American billionaire George Kurtz. Kurtz is the CEO and founder of the cybersecurity company the tech giant. The team principal will remain as team principal and could earn as much as £230m from the sale, with the Brackley-based outfit having been valued at £4.57bn, a new high for an F1 team.