🔗 Share this article

Amid the excitement around the Sin City Grand Prix, McLaren's lead driver is maintaining a level head about his chances of securing his maiden drivers' championship.

The British driver presently holds a two-dozen point advantage over fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and leads Max Verstappen by nearly fifty points, with just up to 83 points available across the final three races. But, after staging a extraordinary comeback from 34 points behind Piastri after the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Norris is focused on performing with the clinical precision that lifted him to the top of the championship.

"Things can quickly turn in the other direction again even though I hope it doesn't," he stated. "That's racing, as we all know. Sometimes you also have luck. Other times you end up unlucky. No matter what happens. It's no point getting excited or dwelling on it. I still view it as a goal that's quite distant."

The 26-year-old has discovered his best form at a critical juncture—having struggled with the car in the first part of the season—at the same time that his teammate has shed the disciplined, nearly perfect ease that had for so long made him seem to be a future title winner. Importantly, Norris kept a remarkable level of composure throughout, insisting even in the face of challenges—like his withdrawal from the Dutch GP—that he would stick to his strategy and approach each session with the same relentless attention to detail. This approach has paid off.

Meanwhile, the team have worked hard to attempt to maintain a level playing field for their two drivers, and it has at times been something of torturous process, most notably at the Italian Grand Prix when the team directed the Australian to surrender second place to his teammate following he had lost the spot due to a delayed tire change. Some fans were unhappy with what was considered the team unnecessarily manipulating their drivers.

The championship leader has won the previous pair of races, in Mexico and São Paulo, and was jeered on the winner's rostrum at both, yet he remained unmoved. "When you're on top, many people try to bring you down. They do not like seeing you winning. I see it as a positive sign," he remarked.

"It makes me laugh. While standing on the podium in Brazil, I really loved it. It was quite enjoyable. At last you feel like you are achieving something right.

"I don't mind, as long as I come out on top. As long as I believe I'm doing it the correct manner, and I think I am, as long as I feel like I am dedicating hard work into being who I am and those kinds of things, then I'm not too fussed about external opinions."

Vegas, on the other hand, must be mastered, and it is not a track ideal for the McLaren. The layout has similarities with Montreal and Baku: low downforce, chilly conditions, and low grip. They are the only two circuits in the current championship where McLaren have failed to secure a single podium place, and Norris was circumspect again about their chances this weekend. Still, his task in the immediate future is straightforward: finish in front of Piastri and the championship tally he requires will come.

Practice Sees Mixed Outcomes for Championship Rivals

The Ferrari driver led the times in first practice on what was still a dusty and very low-grip surface. The Williams racer was runner-up, with Verstappen in fourth, the McLaren ace in P6, and Piastri eighth. In the more representative evening session of second practice, Norris was quickest ahead of the Mercedes of the Italian rookie, with his teammate 14th; however, the session lost nearly the last third of running to inspect a reported loose manhole cover at turn 17.

This problem is treated with caution on a street circuit where, at the first Nevada GP staged in 2023, a loose manhole smashed into the Ferrari, heavily harming it and causing the practice to be ended.

The German Team Confirm Ownership Sale

Mercedes have revealed that their boss the Austrian executive has sold a fifteen percent share in his holding company, equating to a five percent ownership in the team, to American billionaire George Kurtz. Kurtz is the CEO and founder of the cybersecurity company the tech giant. Wolff will stay on as boss and could earn up to £230 million from the sale, with the Brackley-based outfit having been valued at £4.57 billion, a record for an F1 team.