🔗 Share this article

Despite the excitement around the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Lando Norris is maintaining a level head regarding his chances of securing his maiden drivers' championship.

The British driver currently holds a two-dozen point advantage over fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and is ahead of Max Verstappen by nearly fifty points, with just up to 83 points up for grabs across the remaining trio of races. However, after staging a extraordinary recovery from 34 points behind Piastri after the Dutch Grand Prix in the summer, Norris is focused on performing with the methodical approach that propelled him to the top of the championship.

"It can easily go in the other direction once more as much as I don't want it to," he commented. "That's racing, you know. You can get lucky. You can end up unfortunate. 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."

The 26-year-old has discovered his best form at a critical juncture—after difficulties with the car in the first part of the campaign—while his teammate has lost the disciplined, nearly perfect ease that previously made him appear to be a future title winner. Notably, Norris kept a remarkable level of equanimity throughout, insisting even in the face of setbacks—such as his withdrawal from the Dutch GP—that he would adhere to his gameplan and approach every outing with the same unwavering attention to detail. This approach has yielded results.

All the while, the team have worked hard to attempt to preserve a level playing field for their pair of racers, and it has on occasion been something of torturous process, especially at Monza when the team instructed the Australian to surrender the runner-up spot to Norris following he had fallen behind due to a delayed tire change. Some fans did not take well to what was considered McLaren unnecessarily interfering with their drivers.

Norris has claimed victory in the previous pair of grands prix, in Mexico and Brazil, and was booed on the winner's rostrum at each, leaving him unfazed. "Once you are leading, a lot of people want to bring you down. They do not want to see you winning. I see it as a positive sign," he remarked.

"It just amuses me. When I was on the winner's stage in Brazil, I really loved it. The experience was very satisfying. At last you feel like you are achieving something right.

"It doesn't bother me, provided that I win. As long as I feel like I'm doing it the correct manner, and I think I am, as long as I am confident I am dedicating effort into remaining true to myself and similar principles, then I'm not too fussed with the rest of it."

Vegas, on the other hand, needs to be mastered, and it is a circuit suited to the McLaren. The layout has similarities with Canada and Azerbaijan: minimal aerodynamic grip, chilly conditions, and low grip. They are the only two circuits in the current championship where the papaya squad have been unable to claim a single top-three finish, and the leader was circumspect again about their prospects in Nevada. Yet, his objective in the immediate future is simple: finish in ahead of Piastri and the championship tally he requires will follow.

Friday Running Sees Mixed Outcomes for Title Contenders

The Ferrari driver led the times in first practice on what was still a dusty and extremely low-grip surface. The Williams racer was second, with the Red Bull star fourth, the McLaren ace in P6, and Piastri eighth. During the more representative night running of second practice, Norris was fastest from the Silver Arrows of the Italian rookie, with Piastri down in fourteenth; however, the session was interrupted for nearly the last third of running to check a reported unsecured drain cover at the penultimate corner.

This problem is treated with caution on a temporary track where, at the first Nevada GP staged in 2023, a loose drain cover smashed into Carlos Sainz's Ferrari, severely damaging it and causing the practice to be aborted.

Mercedes Announce Ownership Sale

Mercedes have revealed that their boss Toto Wolff has divested a 15% stake in his investment firm, representing a 5% share in the team, to American billionaire George Kurtz. Kurtz is the chief executive and creator of the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. Wolff will remain as team principal and could earn up to £230m from the sale, with the Brackley-based outfit having been appraised at £4.57bn, a record for an Formula 1 constructor.