Despite the excitement surrounding the Sin City Grand Prix, Lando Norris is keeping a level head regarding his prospects of claiming his first drivers' championship.
The British driver presently has a 24-point lead over teammate Oscar Piastri and leads Max Verstappen by 49 points, with only up to 83 points up for grabs across the final three events. But, after pulling off a extraordinary comeback from 34 points behind Piastri following the Dutch Grand Prix in the summer, Norris is focused on performing with the clinical precision that lifted him to the lead of the standings.
"It can quickly go the opposite way again as much as I hope it doesn't," he stated. "That's racing, you know. Sometimes you also have luck. You can end up unfortunate. Whatever it may be. There's really no point getting excited or dwelling on it. I still do see it as a goal that's quite distant."
Norris has found his peak performance at a crucial moment—after difficulties with the car in the first part of the campaign—while his teammate has shed the disciplined, nearly perfect composure that previously made him appear to be a champion in waiting. Importantly, Norris kept a remarkable level of equanimity all along, asserting despite challenges—like his withdrawal from the Zandvoort race—that he would stick to his strategy and work every outing with the same relentless focus on specifics. It has yielded results.
All the while, McLaren have gone to no little effort to try to preserve a fair competition for their two drivers, and it has on occasion been something of torturous process, most notably at the Italian Grand Prix when the team directed Piastri to cede the runner-up spot to his teammate after he had fallen behind due to a delayed tire change. Certain spectators did not take well to what was seen as McLaren unnecessarily interfering with their drivers.
The championship leader has claimed victory in the last two grands prix, in Mexico and São Paulo, and was booed on the winner's rostrum at both, yet he remained unmoved. "Once you are on top, a lot of individuals want to undermine you. They don't like seeing you winning. I see it as a positive sign," he remarked.
"It just amuses me. When I was on the podium in Brazil, I truly enjoyed it. The experience was quite satisfying. At last you sense that you are achieving something right.
"I don't mind, provided that I win. If I feel like I am competing the right way, and I think that's the case, as long as I am confident I'm putting effort into remaining true to myself and similar principles, then I'm not too fussed with the rest of it."
Vegas, meanwhile, needs to be conquered, and it is a circuit suited to the McLaren. The layout has similarities with Montreal and Baku: low downforce, cool temperatures, and slippery surfaces. These are the only two circuits in the current championship where the papaya squad have failed to secure at least one top-three finish, and the leader was circumspect once more about their chances this weekend. Still, his task in the immediate future is simple: end the race in ahead of Piastri and the points he requires will come.
Charles Leclerc topped the times in FP1 on what was still a dusty and extremely low-grip surface. The Williams racer was second, with Verstappen in fourth, the McLaren ace sixth, and Piastri eighth. In the more representative evening session of second practice, the Briton was quickest from the Silver Arrows of Kimi Antonelli, with his teammate down in fourteenth; though, the practice was interrupted for almost all of the last third of running to check a reported loose drain cover at the penultimate corner.
The issue is treated with caution on a street circuit where, at the inaugural Las Vegas GP staged in 2023, a loose manhole smashed into the Ferrari, severely damaging it and causing the practice to be aborted.
Mercedes have confirmed that their team principal Toto Wolff has sold a fifteen percent share in his holding company, representing a 5% share in the squad, to American billionaire the cybersecurity magnate. The investor is the chief executive and creator of the digital protection firm the tech giant. Wolff will stay on as team principal and could earn up to £230 million from the sale, with the Brackley-based outfit having been valued at £4.57 billion, a new high for an F1 team.
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