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Amid all hype around the Sin City Grand Prix, Lando Norris is maintaining a calm demeanor regarding his chances of securing his first drivers' championship.

Norris currently has a two-dozen point advantage over teammate Oscar Piastri and leads Max Verstappen by 49 points, with only up to eighty-three points available across the remaining trio of events. However, after staging a extraordinary recovery from 34 points behind his teammate following the Zandvoort race in August, Norris is focused on performing with the methodical approach that propelled him to the lead of the championship.

"Things can quickly turn the opposite way again as much as I hope it doesn't," he stated. "That's racing, as we all know. You can get lucky. You can also be unfortunate. Whatever it may be. It's no point becoming overjoyed or dwelling on it. I continue to view it as something that's quite far away."

The 26-year-old has found his peak performance at a crucial moment—after difficulties with the vehicle in the opening half of the campaign—at the same time that Piastri has shed the controlled, almost flawless ease that had for so long made him seem to be a future title winner. Notably, Norris kept a impressive level of equanimity throughout, insisting despite challenges—such as his retirement from the Dutch GP—that he would stick to his gameplan and approach each session with the identical relentless attention to detail. This approach has paid off.

All the while, the team have gone to no little effort to attempt to preserve a level playing field for their two drivers, and it has at times been something of difficult experience, most notably at the Italian Grand Prix when the squad instructed the Australian to cede the runner-up spot to his teammate after he had fallen behind because of a delayed tire change. Certain spectators were unhappy with what was considered McLaren unnecessarily manipulating their drivers.

The championship leader has won the last two races, in Mexico City and São Paulo, and was jeered on the winner's rostrum at each, yet he remained unfazed. "Once you are leading, a lot of people want to undermine you. They do not want to see you winning. I see it as a positive sign," he remarked.

"It just amuses me. While standing on the podium in Brazil, I really loved it. The experience was quite satisfying. You finally sense that you are achieving something right.

"I don't mind, provided that I come out on top. As long as I believe I'm doing it the right way, which I feel like that's the case, so long as I am confident I am dedicating effort into being who I am and similar principles, then I am not concerned with the rest of it."

Las Vegas, meanwhile, must be conquered, and it is a circuit suited to the British team. The layout has characteristics with Canada and Azerbaijan: minimal aerodynamic grip, cool temperatures, and slippery surfaces. These are the sole pair of circuits in the current championship where McLaren have failed to claim a single top-three finish, and Norris was cautious once more about their prospects in Nevada. Yet, his task in the short term is simple: finish in ahead of his teammate and the points he needs will follow.

Practice Sees Varied Outcomes for Title Contenders

Charles Leclerc led the leaderboard in first practice on what was remained a sandy and very slippery surface. Alex Albon was second, with the Red Bull star in fourth, Norris sixth, and the Australian in eighth. In the more representative night running of second practice, Norris was quickest ahead of the Silver Arrows of Kimi Antonelli, with Piastri down in fourteenth; though, the practice was interrupted for nearly the final 20 minutes of running to inspect a suspected unsecured drain cover at turn 17.

This problem is treated with caution on a temporary track where, at the inaugural Nevada GP staged in 2023, a loose drain cover struck Carlos Sainz's Ferrari, heavily damaging it and leading to the session to be aborted.

Mercedes Announce Stake Sale

Mercedes have revealed that their boss Toto Wolff has divested a fifteen percent share in his investment firm, representing a 5% share in the squad, to US tycoon George Kurtz. The investor is the CEO and founder of the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. The team principal will stay on as boss and may receive as much as £230m from the sale, with Mercedes having been appraised at £4.57 billion, a record for an Formula 1 constructor.