🔗 Share this article

Despite the hype surrounding the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Lando Norris is maintaining a calm demeanor regarding his chances of securing his first drivers' championship.

The British driver presently has a two-dozen point advantage over fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and leads Max Verstappen by 49 points, with only up to eighty-three points up for grabs across the final three events. However, after pulling off a extraordinary recovery from a significant deficit his teammate following the Zandvoort race in the summer, Norris is focused on performing with the methodical approach that lifted him to the top of the championship.

"Things can easily go in the other direction again as much as I don't want it to," he stated. "That's motorsport, as we all know. Sometimes you get lucky. You can also be unlucky. Whatever it may be. It's not worth becoming overjoyed or thinking about it. I still do see it as a goal that's quite distant."

The 26-year-old has found his best form at a critical moment—having struggled with the vehicle in the opening half of the campaign—while Piastri has shed the controlled, almost flawless composure that previously made him appear to be a future title winner. Importantly, Norris kept a impressive level of composure throughout, insisting even in the face of setbacks—such as his retirement from the Zandvoort race—that he would adhere to his gameplan and approach each session with the identical unwavering attention to detail. This approach has yielded results.

All the while, the team have worked hard to attempt to maintain a level playing field for their pair of racers, and it has on occasion been a rather torturous experience, especially at Monza when the squad instructed Piastri to surrender second place to Norris following he had fallen behind due to a delayed tire change. Certain spectators did not take well to what was considered McLaren needlessly interfering with their competitors.

Norris has claimed victory in the previous pair of 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 individuals want to bring you down. They don't want to see you succeeding. I consider it a positive sign," he remarked.

"It amuses me. When I was on the winner's stage in Brazil, I really enjoyed it. The experience was very enjoyable. You finally feel like you are achieving success.

"It doesn't bother me, as long as I win. As long as I feel like I am competing the correct manner, and I think that's the case, so long as I feel like I'm putting hard work into remaining true to myself and those kinds of things, then I am not concerned about external opinions."

Las Vegas, meanwhile, needs to be mastered, and it is not a track ideal for the British team. The layout has similarities with Canada and Azerbaijan: low downforce, cool temperatures, and low grip. They are the only two tracks this season where McLaren have failed to claim a single top-three finish, and Norris was cautious again about their chances this weekend. Yet, his task in the immediate future is simple: finish in front of Piastri and the points he needs will follow.

Practice Sees Varied Results for Title Contenders

The Ferrari driver topped the leaderboard in first practice on what was still a sandy and very slippery track. Alex Albon was runner-up, with the Red Bull star fourth, Norris sixth, and the Australian in eighth. In the more indicative night running of FP2, Norris was fastest ahead of the Silver Arrows of Kimi Antonelli, with his teammate 14th; however, the practice was interrupted for nearly the final 20 minutes of track time to inspect a suspected loose drain cover at the penultimate corner.

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

The German Team Confirm Ownership Transaction

The eight-time constructors' champions have confirmed that their team principal Toto Wolff has sold a fifteen percent share in his holding company, equating to 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 CrowdStrike. The team principal will stay on as team principal and may receive as much as £230 million from the sale, with Mercedes having been appraised at £4.57bn, a new high for an F1 team.