🔗 Share this article

Despite the excitement surrounding the Sin City Grand Prix, Lando Norris is maintaining a calm demeanor about his chances of claiming his maiden drivers' championship.

The British driver currently holds a two-dozen point advantage over teammate Oscar Piastri and is ahead of Max Verstappen by nearly fifty points, with just up to eighty-three points up for grabs across the remaining trio of events. But, after staging a extraordinary comeback from a significant deficit Piastri following the Zandvoort race in the summer, Norris is concentrating on performing with the methodical approach that lifted him to the lead of the standings.

"Things can quickly go the opposite way again even though I hope it doesn't," he commented. "That's motorsport, as we all know. Sometimes you also have luck. You can also be unfortunate. Whatever it may be. There's really no point getting excited or dwelling on it. I continue to do see it as something that's quite far away."

Norris has found his best form at a critical juncture—after difficulties with the car in the opening half of the season—while his teammate has shed the disciplined, almost perfect ease that had for so long made him seem to be a champion in waiting. Notably, Norris maintained a remarkable level of composure all along, asserting despite setbacks—such as his retirement from the Zandvoort race—that he would adhere to his strategy and work each session with the same relentless attention to detail. It has yielded results.

Meanwhile, the team have gone to no little effort to attempt to maintain a level playing field for their pair of racers, and it has on occasion been something of difficult experience, most notably at Monza when the team directed the Australian to cede 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 needlessly interfering with their competitors.

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 each, yet he remained unfazed. "Once you are on top, many individuals try to undermine you. They don't want to see you winning. I see it as a good thing," he remarked.

"It makes me laugh. While standing on the podium in Brazil, I really enjoyed it. It was very satisfying. You finally feel like you are achieving success.

"I don't mind, provided that I win. As long as I believe I'm doing it the correct way, and I think I am, as long as I feel like I am dedicating hard work into remaining true to myself and similar principles, then I'm not too fussed with the rest of it."

Las Vegas, on the other hand, must be conquered, and it is a circuit suited to the McLaren. It shares similarities with Canada and Azerbaijan: low downforce, cool temperatures, and low grip. They are the only two tracks this season where McLaren have been unable to claim at least one podium place, and Norris was circumspect again about their prospects this weekend. Still, his task in the immediate future is straightforward: end the race in ahead of his teammate and the points he requires will follow.

Friday Running Sees Mixed Results for Championship Contenders

The Ferrari driver led the times in first practice on what was remained a dusty and extremely low-grip surface. Alex Albon was second, with the Red Bull star in fourth, the McLaren ace sixth, and the Australian eighth. In the more representative evening session of FP2, Norris was quickest ahead of the Silver Arrows of the Italian rookie, with Piastri down in fourteenth; though, the practice lost almost all of the last third of running to check a reported loose drain cover at turn 17.

The issue is taken seriously on a temporary track where, at the first Las Vegas GP staged in 2023, a dislodged manhole smashed into Carlos Sainz's Ferrari, heavily damaging it and causing the practice to be ended.

The German Team Announce Ownership Sale

The eight-time constructors' champions have confirmed that their team principal Toto Wolff has divested a fifteen percent share in his holding company, representing a 5% share in the team, to American billionaire the cybersecurity magnate. The investor is the chief executive and creator of the digital protection firm CrowdStrike. The team principal will stay on as team principal and could earn as much as £230 million from the deal, with the Brackley-based outfit having been appraised at £4.57bn, a record for an Formula 1 constructor.