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Despite all hype around the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Lando Norris is keeping a level head regarding his prospects of claiming his first drivers' championship.

Norris presently has a 24-point advantage over teammate 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 events. However, after pulling off a extraordinary comeback from 34 points behind Piastri after the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Norris is concentrating on executing with the clinical precision that lifted him to the lead of the championship.

"It can quickly turn in the other direction again even though I hope it doesn't," he stated. "That's motorsport, you know. You can also have luck. You can also be unlucky. No matter what happens. It's no point getting excited or thinking about it. I still view it as something that's quite distant."

Norris has found his best form at a crucial juncture—having struggled with the car in the opening half of the campaign—at the same time that Piastri has shed the disciplined, almost flawless composure that previously made him appear to be a future title winner. Importantly, Norris kept a impressive level of composure all along, insisting even in the face of challenges—such as his withdrawal from the Zandvoort race—that he would stick to his strategy and approach every outing with the identical unwavering attention to detail. It has yielded results.

All the while, the team have gone to no little effort to try to preserve a level playing field for their pair of racers, and it has on occasion been a rather difficult process, most notably at Monza when the team instructed the Australian to cede second place to his teammate following he had lost the spot because of a delayed tire change. Some fans were unhappy with what was considered the team needlessly manipulating their drivers.

The championship leader has claimed victory in the last two races, in Mexico City and Brazil, and was jeered on the podium at each, yet he remained unmoved. "Once you are leading, many people want to bring you down. They don't want to see you succeeding. I see it as a positive sign," he remarked.

"It amuses me. While standing on the winner's stage in Brazil, I truly enjoyed it. The experience was quite enjoyable. At last you feel like you're doing success.

"It doesn't bother me, provided that I come out on top. As long as I feel like I'm doing it the correct way, and I think I am, so long as I am confident I am dedicating effort into remaining true to myself and similar principles, then I'm not too fussed about external opinions."

Las Vegas, on the other hand, must be mastered, and it is not a track ideal for the British team. The layout has similarities with Canada and Azerbaijan: minimal aerodynamic grip, cool temperatures, and slippery surfaces. These are the sole pair of tracks in the current championship where the papaya squad have been unable to claim at least one podium place, and Norris was circumspect again about their prospects this weekend. Yet, his task in the short term is simple: finish in front of Piastri and the championship tally he needs will follow.

Friday Running Shows Mixed Results for Championship Contenders

Charles Leclerc led the times in FP1 on what was still a dusty and very slippery track. The Williams racer was second, with Verstappen fourth, Norris sixth, and Piastri in eighth. During the more indicative evening session of second practice, Norris was quickest from the Mercedes of the Italian rookie, with his teammate 14th; however, the session was interrupted for almost all of the final 20 minutes of track time to inspect a reported unsecured manhole cover at turn 17.

This problem is treated with caution on a temporary track where, at the first Las Vegas GP staged in 2023, a dislodged manhole smashed into the Ferrari, heavily damaging it and causing the session to be aborted.

Mercedes Confirm Stake Sale

Mercedes have revealed that their boss Toto Wolff has divested a 15% stake in his holding company, representing a 5% share in the team, to US tycoon George Kurtz. Kurtz is the chief executive and creator of the digital protection firm the tech giant. The team principal will remain as boss and may receive as much as £230 million from the sale, with the Brackley-based outfit having been valued at £4.57bn, a record for an F1 team.