Despite all excitement around the Las Vegas Grand Prix, McLaren's lead driver is keeping a calm demeanor about his chances of claiming his maiden world title.
The British driver presently holds a two-dozen point advantage over teammate Oscar Piastri and is ahead of Max Verstappen by 49 points, with just up to eighty-three points available across the remaining trio of races. However, after staging a remarkable comeback from a significant deficit Piastri after the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Norris is focused on performing with the methodical approach that lifted him to the lead of the championship.
"Things can quickly go in the other direction once more even though I hope it doesn't," he commented. "That's racing, you know. Sometimes you also have luck. You can end up unlucky. Whatever it may be. There's really no point becoming overjoyed or thinking about it. I still view it as something that remains far away."
Norris has found his best form at a crucial juncture—having struggled with the car in the first part of the season—while his teammate has shed the controlled, almost flawless composure that previously made him appear to be a future title winner. Notably, Norris maintained a remarkable 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 strategy and approach each session with the identical relentless attention to detail. This approach has yielded results.
Meanwhile, McLaren have worked hard to attempt to maintain a fair competition for their two drivers, and it has at times been a rather torturous process, most notably at Monza when the squad instructed the Australian to cede the runner-up spot to Norris following he had lost the spot due to a delayed tire change. Some fans did not take well to what was seen as the team unnecessarily manipulating their drivers.
Norris has claimed victory in the previous pair of grands prix, in Mexico City and Brazil, and was jeered on the podium at each, yet he remained unfazed. "Once you are leading, a lot of individuals want to undermine you. They do not want to see you winning. I consider it a positive sign," he said.
"It just makes me laugh. When I was on the winner's stage in Interlagos, I really enjoyed it. The experience was very enjoyable. You finally sense that 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 am confident I'm putting effort into remaining true to myself and similar principles, then I am not concerned about external opinions."
Vegas, on the other hand, needs to be mastered, and it is not a track suited to the British team. The layout has characteristics with Montreal and Baku: minimal aerodynamic grip, chilly conditions, and slippery surfaces. They are the only two tracks in the current championship where the papaya squad have failed to secure a single top-three finish, and Norris was cautious once more about their chances this weekend. Still, his objective in the short term is simple: end the race in ahead of his teammate and the points he requires will come.
Friday Running Sees Varied Outcomes for Title Contenders
The Ferrari driver led the times in first practice on what was still a sandy and very low-grip track. Alex Albon was runner-up, with Verstappen in fourth, Norris sixth, and Piastri in eighth. In the more representative night running of FP2, Norris was quickest from the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, with his teammate down in fourteenth; though, the practice was interrupted for nearly the final 20 minutes of track time to inspect a reported unsecured drain cover at turn 17.
This problem is taken seriously on a temporary track where, at the inaugural Nevada GP staged in 2023, a loose drain cover smashed into Carlos Sainz's Ferrari, heavily damaging it and causing the session to be ended.
The German Team Announce Stake Sale
The eight-time constructors' champions have confirmed that their team principal the Austrian executive has divested a 15% stake in his investment firm, representing a 5% share in the team, to US tycoon George Kurtz. The investor is the CEO and founder of the digital protection firm CrowdStrike. Wolff will stay on as boss and could earn up to £230m from the sale, with the Brackley-based outfit having been appraised at £4.57 billion, a record for an F1 team.
