🔗 Share this article F1 Championship Front-Runner Norris Remains Cautious In Spite Of Las Vegas Grand Prix Title Advantage Amid all excitement surrounding the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Lando Norris is keeping a calm demeanor about his chances of securing his maiden drivers' championship. The British driver currently has a 24-point lead over fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and is ahead of Max Verstappen by nearly fifty points, with only up to 83 points available across the remaining trio of races. But, after staging a remarkable comeback from 34 points behind his teammate following the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Norris is concentrating on performing with the methodical approach that lifted him to the lead of the championship. "It can easily turn the opposite way again even though I don't want it to," he commented. "That's motorsport, you know. You can also have luck. Other times you also be unfortunate. No matter what happens. It's not worth getting excited or dwelling on it. I continue to view it as a goal that remains distant." The 26-year-old has discovered his best form at a crucial moment—after difficulties with the car in the opening half of the campaign—at the same time that Piastri has shed the controlled, nearly flawless composure that had for so long made him appear to be a champion in waiting. Importantly, Norris kept a impressive level of composure throughout, asserting despite setbacks—such as his withdrawal from the Dutch GP—that he would stick to his gameplan and approach every outing with the identical unwavering attention to detail. It has paid off. All the while, McLaren have gone to no little effort to try to maintain a fair competition for their two drivers, and it has on occasion been something of torturous experience, most notably at Monza when the team instructed the Australian to cede the runner-up spot to his teammate following he had lost the spot because of a slow pit stop. Some fans did not take well to what was considered the team needlessly interfering with their competitors. The championship leader has claimed victory in the previous pair of races, in Mexico and São Paulo, and was jeered on the podium at each, yet he remained unmoved. "Once you are leading, many people try to undermine you. They don't want to see you succeeding. I see it as a positive sign," he said. "It makes me laugh. While standing on the podium in Brazil, I really enjoyed it. It was very satisfying. At last you sense that you are achieving something right. "It doesn't bother me, provided that I win. As long as I feel like I am competing the correct manner, and I think I am, so long as I feel like I am dedicating hard work into remaining true to myself and those kinds of things, then I am not concerned with the rest of it." Las Vegas, on the other hand, needs to be mastered, and it is a circuit ideal for the McLaren. It shares similarities with Canada and Azerbaijan: minimal aerodynamic grip, cool temperatures, and slippery surfaces. They are the only two circuits this season where McLaren have been unable to claim at least one podium place, and the leader was cautious once more about their chances this weekend. Still, his objective in the immediate future is straightforward: finish in ahead of his teammate and the championship tally he requires will come. Friday Running Shows Mixed Results for Championship Rivals Charles Leclerc led the times in first practice on what was still a sandy and extremely slippery surface. The Williams racer was runner-up, with the Red Bull star fourth, Norris sixth, and Piastri eighth. In the more indicative evening session of second practice, the Briton was fastest from the Mercedes of the Italian rookie, with his teammate down in fourteenth; though, the practice lost nearly the last third of running to check a reported loose manhole cover at the penultimate corner. This problem 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 harming it and causing the session to be aborted. The German Team Confirm Stake Sale The eight-time constructors' champions have revealed that their boss Toto Wolff has divested a 15% stake in his investment firm, equating to a 5% share in the team, to US tycoon George Kurtz. 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 deal, with Mercedes having been appraised at £4.57bn, a new high for an F1 team.