🔗 Share this article

Despite all excitement surrounding the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Lando Norris is keeping a level head about his chances of securing his maiden world title.

The British driver presently has a two-dozen point advantage over fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and leads Max Verstappen by nearly fifty points, with just a maximum of 83 points up for grabs across the final three races. However, after pulling off a remarkable comeback from a significant deficit his teammate following the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Norris is focused on performing with the clinical precision that lifted him to the lead of the standings.

"Things can quickly turn the opposite way again as much as I don't want it to," he stated. "That's racing, as we all know. You can also have luck. Other times you also be unfortunate. No matter what happens. There's really no point getting excited or thinking about it. I still do see it as a goal that remains distant."

The 26-year-old has found his best form at a critical moment—after difficulties with the car in the first part of the campaign—at the same time that Piastri has lost 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 even in the face of challenges—such as his retirement from the Dutch GP—that he would stick to his gameplan and work every outing with the same unwavering focus on specifics. It has yielded results.

Meanwhile, the team have worked hard to attempt to maintain a fair competition for their two drivers, and it has at times been a rather difficult process, most notably at the Italian Grand Prix when the squad directed the Australian to surrender the runner-up spot to his teammate after he had fallen behind because of a delayed tire change. Some fans were unhappy with what was seen as the team needlessly interfering with their competitors.

Norris has claimed victory in the last two grands prix, in Mexico City and Brazil, and was booed on the podium at each, yet he remained unmoved. "Once you are on top, a lot of individuals try to bring you down. They do not like seeing you succeeding. I see it as a good thing," he remarked.

"It just amuses me. When I was on the winner's stage in Brazil, I really loved it. It was very enjoyable. At last you sense that you are achieving success.

"It doesn't bother me, as long as I come out on top. If I believe I am competing the right way, and I think I am, so long as I feel like I'm putting 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, needs to be mastered, and it is not a track ideal for the British team. It shares similarities with Montreal and Baku: low downforce, cool temperatures, and low grip. These are the sole pair of circuits in the current championship where McLaren have failed to secure a single top-three finish, and the leader was circumspect once more about their chances in Nevada. Yet, his task in the short term is simple: finish in front of Piastri and the points he requires will follow.

Friday Running Shows Varied Results for Title Rivals

The Ferrari driver led the leaderboard in first practice on what was still a dusty and very slippery track. Alex Albon was second, with Verstappen in fourth, Norris in P6, and the Australian eighth. In the more indicative evening session of second practice, the Briton was quickest from the Silver Arrows of Kimi Antonelli, with Piastri down in fourteenth; though, the session lost almost all of the final 20 minutes of running to check a reported unsecured manhole cover at the penultimate corner.

This problem is taken seriously on a temporary track where, at the first Nevada GP staged in 2023, a loose drain cover struck Carlos Sainz's Ferrari, severely harming it and causing the practice to be aborted.

The German Team Announce Stake Transaction

Mercedes have confirmed that their boss the Austrian executive has divested a fifteen percent share in his investment firm, equating to a 5% share in the team, to American billionaire the cybersecurity magnate. The investor is the CEO and founder of the digital protection firm CrowdStrike. The team principal will stay on as boss and could earn up to £230 million from the deal, with the Brackley-based outfit having been valued at £4.57bn, a new high for an F1 team.