🔗 Share this article

Amid the hype surrounding the Sin City Grand Prix, McLaren's lead driver is keeping a level head about his chances of securing his first world title.

Norris presently holds a two-dozen point advantage over teammate Oscar Piastri and is ahead of Max Verstappen by 49 points, with just a maximum of eighty-three points available across the final three events. However, after staging a extraordinary recovery from 34 points behind Piastri after the Zandvoort race in the summer, Norris is focused on executing with the methodical approach that propelled him to the lead of the championship.

"It can easily go in the other direction again even though I hope it doesn't," he commented. "That's motorsport, as we all know. You can also have luck. Other times you also be unlucky. No matter what happens. It's no point getting excited or thinking about it. I continue to do see it as a goal that remains distant."

Norris has discovered his best form at a crucial moment—after difficulties with the car in the first part of the season—while Piastri has shed the disciplined, nearly flawless composure that had for so long made him seem to be a future title winner. Importantly, Norris kept a remarkable level of composure throughout, asserting despite challenges—such as his withdrawal from the Dutch GP—that he would stick to his gameplan and work each session with the identical relentless focus on specifics. It has paid off.

All the while, McLaren have gone to no little effort to try to preserve a fair competition for their pair of racers, and it has on occasion been something of difficult process, most notably at Monza when the squad directed Piastri to surrender the runner-up spot to Norris following he had fallen behind 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 City and São Paulo, and was booed on the winner's rostrum at both, yet he remained unfazed. "When you're leading, a lot of individuals try to bring you down. They do not want to see you succeeding. I consider it a good thing," he remarked.

"It amuses me. While standing on the winner's stage in Brazil, I really enjoyed it. The experience was quite enjoyable. You finally feel like you are achieving something right.

"It doesn't bother me, provided that I win. If I feel like I am competing the correct manner, which I feel like I am, so long as I feel like I'm putting hard work into being who I am and similar principles, then I am not concerned about the rest of it."

Las Vegas, meanwhile, needs to be mastered, and it is not a track suited to the McLaren. The layout has similarities with Montreal and Baku: minimal aerodynamic grip, cool temperatures, and low grip. These are the sole pair of tracks in the current championship where the papaya squad have failed to claim at least one podium place, and the leader was circumspect once more about their chances in Nevada. Still, his task in the short term is simple: finish in front of Piastri and the points he needs will come.

Practice Shows Mixed Results for Championship Contenders

The Ferrari driver topped the leaderboard in FP1 on what was still a dusty and extremely low-grip track. The Williams racer was runner-up, with the Red Bull star in fourth, the McLaren ace in P6, and Piastri in eighth. In the more representative evening session of second practice, the Briton was fastest from the Mercedes of the Italian rookie, with Piastri down in fourteenth; though, the session was interrupted for nearly the last third of track time to check a reported loose drain cover at the penultimate corner.

The issue is treated with caution on a street circuit where, at the inaugural Nevada GP held in 2023, a loose manhole struck the Ferrari, severely damaging it and causing the session to be ended.

The German Team Confirm Ownership Transaction

Mercedes have revealed that their team principal Toto Wolff has divested a 15% stake in his investment firm, representing a 5% share in the squad, to US tycoon George Kurtz. Kurtz is the CEO and founder of the digital protection firm CrowdStrike. Wolff will remain as boss and may receive as much as £230 million from the deal, with Mercedes having been appraised at £4.57 billion, a new high for an F1 team.