🔗 Share this article

Despite all hype surrounding the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Lando Norris is keeping a calm demeanor regarding his prospects of claiming his first drivers' championship.

The British driver presently holds a two-dozen point advantage over teammate Oscar Piastri and is ahead of Max Verstappen by nearly fifty points, with only a maximum of 83 points up for grabs across the final three races. However, after pulling off a remarkable comeback from a significant deficit his teammate after the Zandvoort race in August, Norris is concentrating on executing with the methodical approach that lifted him to the top of the championship.

"It can easily go the opposite way once more even though I hope it doesn't," he commented. "That's racing, you know. Sometimes you also have luck. You can end up unfortunate. No matter what happens. It's no point becoming overjoyed or dwelling on it. I continue to view it as a goal that remains far away."

The 26-year-old has found his peak performance at a critical moment—having struggled with the vehicle in the first part of the campaign—while his teammate has lost the disciplined, almost perfect composure that previously made him seem to be a champion in waiting. Importantly, Norris maintained a impressive level of equanimity throughout, asserting even in the face of setbacks—like his retirement from the Dutch GP—that he would adhere to his strategy and work each session with the same relentless attention to detail. This approach has paid off.

Meanwhile, the team have worked hard to try to preserve a level playing field for their two drivers, and it has on occasion been a rather torturous process, especially at the Italian Grand Prix when the squad instructed the Australian to surrender the runner-up spot to Norris after he had fallen behind because of a slow pit stop. Some fans did not take well to what was seen as the team unnecessarily manipulating their competitors.

The championship leader has claimed victory in the previous pair of grands prix, in Mexico and São Paulo, and was jeered on the podium at each, yet he remained unfazed. "Once you are leading, a lot of people try to bring you down. They do not want to see you winning. I consider it a positive sign," he said.

"It amuses me. When I was on the winner's stage in Brazil, I truly enjoyed it. The experience was quite enjoyable. At last you feel like you're doing success.

"I don't mind, as long as I come out on top. As long as I feel like I am competing the right way, and I think that's the case, so long as I am confident I am dedicating hard work into being who I am and those kinds of things, then I'm not too fussed with the rest of it."

Las Vegas, meanwhile, needs to be mastered, and it is a circuit suited to the McLaren. The layout has similarities with Canada and Baku: low downforce, chilly conditions, and slippery surfaces. They are the only two circuits in the current championship where the papaya squad have failed to secure at least one top-three finish, and the leader was cautious again about their prospects in Nevada. Still, his objective in the short term is simple: finish in ahead of Piastri and the points he requires will come.

Friday Running Shows Mixed Results for Title Contenders

The Ferrari driver led the times in first practice on what was still a dusty and very low-grip track. Alex Albon was second, with the Red Bull star in fourth, Norris in P6, and Piastri eighth. During the more indicative night running of FP2, the Briton was fastest ahead of the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, with his teammate 14th; though, the practice was interrupted for nearly the final 20 minutes of track time to check a suspected loose manhole cover at the penultimate corner.

The issue is taken seriously on a temporary track where, at the first Nevada GP held in 2023, a loose manhole smashed into Carlos Sainz's Ferrari, severely harming it and causing the session to be aborted.

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 team, to US tycoon George Kurtz. The investor is the CEO and founder of the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. The team principal will remain as boss and could earn up to £230m from the deal, with the Brackley-based outfit having been appraised at £4.57 billion, a new high for an F1 team.