🔗 Share this article

Despite all hype surrounding the Sin City Grand Prix, McLaren's lead driver is maintaining a level head about his chances of securing his first drivers' championship.

Norris currently has a 24-point lead over fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and is ahead of Max Verstappen by nearly fifty points, with just a maximum of eighty-three points available across the final three events. But, after pulling off a extraordinary comeback from a significant deficit his teammate following the Dutch Grand Prix in the summer, Norris is concentrating on performing with the clinical precision that propelled him to the top of the standings.

"Things can quickly turn in the other direction once more even though I hope it doesn't," he commented. "That's racing, you know. Sometimes you get lucky. Other times you also be unfortunate. Whatever it may be. There's really no point becoming overjoyed 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 juncture—having struggled with the car in the first part of the season—while Piastri has shed the disciplined, almost flawless ease that had for so long made him seem to be a champion in waiting. Importantly, Norris kept a impressive level of equanimity all along, insisting even in the face of challenges—like his retirement from the Dutch GP—that he would adhere to his strategy and approach each session with the identical unwavering attention to detail. This approach has paid off.

Meanwhile, McLaren have gone to no little effort to try to maintain a level playing field for their two drivers, and it has at times been something of difficult experience, especially at the Italian Grand Prix when the team instructed the Australian to surrender the runner-up spot to his teammate following he had fallen behind because of a delayed tire change. Certain spectators did not take well to what was considered the team needlessly manipulating their drivers.

The championship leader has won the last two races, in Mexico and São Paulo, and was jeered on the podium at each, leaving him unfazed. "Once you are leading, a lot of individuals want to undermine you. They don't like seeing you succeeding. I see it as a positive sign," he remarked.

"It makes me laugh. When I was on the winner's stage in Brazil, I really enjoyed it. It was quite enjoyable. At last you feel like you're doing success.

"I don't mind, provided that I come out on top. If I believe I'm doing it the right manner, and I think that's the case, so long as I feel like I am dedicating effort into being who I am and those kinds of things, then I am not concerned with the rest of it."

Vegas, on the other hand, must be mastered, and it is a circuit ideal for the British team. The layout has characteristics with Montreal and Azerbaijan: minimal aerodynamic grip, cool temperatures, 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 circumspect once more about their prospects in Nevada. Still, his objective in the short term is simple: finish in front of Piastri and the points he requires will follow.

Friday Running Shows Mixed Outcomes for Championship Rivals

The Ferrari driver topped the times in FP1 on what was still a dusty and extremely low-grip surface. The Williams racer was runner-up, with Verstappen in fourth, Norris in P6, and the Australian in eighth. In the more representative night running of FP2, the Briton was fastest from the Silver Arrows of the Italian rookie, with his teammate down in fourteenth; however, the session was interrupted for nearly the last third of running to check a suspected unsecured drain cover at the penultimate corner.

The issue is taken seriously on a temporary track where, at the first Nevada GP held in 2023, a loose drain cover smashed into Carlos Sainz's Ferrari, heavily harming it and causing the practice to be aborted.

Mercedes Announce Stake Transaction

Mercedes have confirmed that their boss Toto Wolff has sold a 15% stake in his holding company, equating to a five percent ownership in the squad, to US tycoon George Kurtz. The investor is the chief executive and creator of the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. The team principal will stay on as team principal and may receive up to £230m from the deal, with the Brackley-based outfit having been appraised at £4.57bn, a new high for an F1 team.