Norris Advances Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Takes Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to his first world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will claim the championship in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a good result to get second. I've got to praise Verstappen and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the last event of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

The key stories of among Formula 1's most prestigious races included:

• Norris continued his progress towards the championship despite the win to Max Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's difficult performance streak persisted as his title hopes diminish

• A excellent victory for Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th after starting at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

But following an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

That allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

Russell made an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver stopped five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was could return still in the lead, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Norris returned after Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his engineer how to run the remainder of his event, effectively asking whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could defend against Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Even with losing nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could hold off Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least mathematically, although he requires problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've got," Max Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri started in fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on the durable compound after stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating event from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of things to go my way now to win, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his heroic performance to qualify in third in the wet

Isack Hadjar took eighth place before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a point following the poorest qualifying session of his racing life