🔗 Share this article

Despite the hype around the Sin City Grand Prix, McLaren's lead driver is keeping a level head regarding his chances of claiming his maiden drivers' championship.

Norris currently holds a two-dozen point lead over fellow McLaren driver 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 races. However, after staging a extraordinary comeback from a significant deficit Piastri following the Zandvoort race in August, Norris is focused on performing with the methodical approach that propelled him to the lead of the standings.

"It can quickly turn in the other direction again even though I hope it doesn't," he commented. "That's racing, as we all know. Sometimes you also have luck. You can also be unfortunate. Whatever it may be. It's no point getting excited or thinking about it. I continue to view it as something that remains distant."

The 26-year-old has found his peak performance at a crucial moment—having struggled with the car in the opening half of the campaign—at the same time that Piastri has lost the controlled, nearly perfect ease that previously made him seem to be a future title winner. Importantly, Norris kept a remarkable level of equanimity all along, insisting despite setbacks—like his retirement from the Zandvoort race—that he would adhere to his gameplan and approach every outing with the identical unwavering attention to detail. This approach has yielded results.

Meanwhile, the team have gone to no little effort to attempt to maintain a fair competition for their two drivers, and it has on occasion been a rather difficult process, especially at the Italian Grand Prix when the squad instructed Piastri to cede the runner-up spot to Norris following he had lost the spot due to a delayed tire change. Some fans were unhappy with what was seen as the team unnecessarily interfering with their drivers.

The championship leader has claimed victory in the previous pair of grands prix, in Mexico and Brazil, and was jeered on the winner's rostrum at both, yet he remained unmoved. "Once you are on top, a lot of individuals try to undermine you. They don't want to see you winning. I see it as a good thing," he said.

"It just amuses me. When I was on the winner's stage in Brazil, I truly loved it. It was very satisfying. At last you sense that you're doing success.

"It doesn't bother me, as long as I win. As long as I feel like I'm doing it the correct way, which I feel like I am, as long as I feel like I'm putting effort into remaining true to myself and similar principles, then I am not concerned about external opinions."

Vegas, meanwhile, must be mastered, and it is a circuit ideal for the McLaren. It shares similarities with Canada and Baku: low downforce, cool temperatures, and low grip. They are the only two circuits in the current championship where the papaya squad have been unable to secure a single podium place, and Norris was cautious 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 come.

Friday Running Sees Mixed Results for Title Contenders

The Ferrari driver led the leaderboard in FP1 on what was still a dusty and very low-grip track. Alex Albon was second, with the Red Bull star fourth, the McLaren ace sixth, and the Australian in eighth. In the more representative evening session of FP2, Norris was fastest from the Silver Arrows of Kimi Antonelli, with his teammate 14th; however, the session was interrupted for nearly the last third of running to check a suspected unsecured drain cover at the penultimate corner.

This problem is taken seriously on a street circuit where, at the first Nevada GP staged in 2023, a dislodged manhole struck the Ferrari, severely damaging it and leading to the practice to be aborted.

Mercedes Confirm Stake Sale

The eight-time constructors' champions have confirmed that their boss Toto Wolff has sold a fifteen percent share in his investment firm, representing a 5% share in the team, to American billionaire George Kurtz. The investor is the CEO and founder of the digital protection firm CrowdStrike. The team principal will remain 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 new high for an F1 team.