LAS VEGAS (Reuters) -McLaren's Formula One championship leader Lando Norris played down his chances of a third win in a row on Wednesday and said he expected Las Vegas to be trickier than his last two races in Mexico and Brazil.
Norris leads Australian teammate Oscar Piastri by 24 points and is 49 clear of Red Bull's four-times world champion Max Verstappen with three rounds left but could struggle to continue his momentum in the Nevada city.
The previous two editions of the Las Vegas Grand Prix have been won by Red Bull and Mercedes, who had a one-two finish last year with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton (now at Ferrari).
Norris was sixth last year and crashed in 2023. Piastri was seventh and 10th respectively.
"From the last two years, it's certainly been the hardest race of the year that we've had," the Briton told reporters.
"So my expectations are not to the same level as Mexico, Brazil, where we've been performing very well for a good amount of years.
"But we've had an excellent year and we've improved in places that we've struggled in the past. So I'm certainly coming in with more confidence than in previous years, but not the same amount of confidence as going into the past few races," he added.
"Expectations are still high. I'm still coming here to win and to want to repeat the last few weekends that I've had. But I think it's going to be trickier for sure than the last couple."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
