🔗 Share this article

Despite the hype surrounding the Las Vegas Grand Prix, McLaren's lead driver is keeping a calm demeanor regarding his chances of claiming his maiden world title.

Norris currently holds a 24-point lead over teammate Oscar Piastri and leads Max Verstappen by 49 points, with just a maximum of eighty-three points available across the final three races. However, after staging a remarkable comeback from 34 points behind Piastri following the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Norris is focused on executing with the clinical precision that lifted him to the top of the championship.

"It can easily turn the opposite way again even though I hope it doesn't," he stated. "That's racing, you know. You can also have luck. You can also be unfortunate. Whatever it may be. There's really no point getting excited or dwelling on it. I still do see it as something that's quite distant."

The 26-year-old has found his peak performance at a critical juncture—after difficulties with the vehicle in the first part of the season—while Piastri has lost the controlled, nearly perfect composure that previously made him appear to be a future title winner. Importantly, Norris maintained a impressive level of equanimity all along, insisting despite setbacks—such as his retirement from the Dutch GP—that he would adhere to his strategy and approach each session with the same unwavering attention to detail. It has paid off.

All the while, McLaren have gone to no little effort to try to maintain a level playing field for their two drivers, and it has on occasion been something of difficult process, most notably at the Italian Grand Prix when the team directed Piastri to surrender second place to his teammate following he had fallen behind because of a slow pit stop. Some fans did not take well to what was considered the team unnecessarily interfering with their drivers.

The championship leader has won the previous pair of races, in Mexico and São Paulo, and was booed on the podium at each, leaving him unmoved. "When you're on top, many people try to bring you down. They do not want to see you succeeding. I see it as a good thing," he said.

"It just makes me laugh. When I was on the podium in Interlagos, I really loved it. The experience was very satisfying. At last you sense that you're doing something right.

"It doesn't bother me, provided that I win. As long as I believe I'm doing it the correct manner, which I feel like that's the case, as long as I feel like I'm putting hard work into being who I am and those kinds of things, then I'm not too fussed about external opinions."

Vegas, meanwhile, needs to be mastered, and it is a circuit suited to the British team. The layout has similarities with Montreal and Azerbaijan: low downforce, chilly conditions, and slippery surfaces. They are the only two tracks in the current championship where the papaya squad have failed to claim a single top-three finish, and Norris was cautious again about their prospects this weekend. Still, his task in the short term is straightforward: end the race in ahead of Piastri and the championship tally he requires will come.

Friday Running Sees Mixed Results for Championship Rivals

The Ferrari driver led the times in first practice on what was remained a sandy and very low-grip surface. Alex Albon was runner-up, with Verstappen fourth, the McLaren ace in P6, and the Australian in eighth. In the more indicative evening session of FP2, the Briton was quickest ahead of the Silver Arrows of Kimi Antonelli, with Piastri 14th; though, the practice was interrupted for nearly the last third of running to check a suspected loose manhole cover at turn 17.

The issue is taken seriously on a temporary track where, at the inaugural Las Vegas GP staged in 2023, a dislodged drain cover struck the Ferrari, heavily damaging it and leading to the session to be ended.

Mercedes Announce Stake Transaction

Mercedes have revealed that their boss Toto Wolff has divested a 15% stake in his holding company, equating to a five percent ownership in the squad, to American billionaire the cybersecurity magnate. Kurtz is the CEO and founder of the digital protection firm the tech giant. The team principal will stay on as team principal and could earn up to £230m from the sale, with Mercedes having been appraised at £4.57 billion, a record for an F1 team.