Lando Norris Advances Closer to Title as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim the title in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I erred early on and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the last event of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

The key stories of one of Formula 1's most high-profile races included:

• Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship losing the victory to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his championship chances diminish

• A superb victory for Max Verstappen to maintain him in the championship battle

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place after starting at the rear

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

However following an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

That enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver lost second place to George Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

George Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen remained on track

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

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the first place, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his engineer how to run the remainder of his event, essentially asking whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was told to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to repel Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the margin extended substantially as the McLaren car started to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - just one behind both McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, although he needs issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres after pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a frustrating event from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require quite a lot of factors to go my way now to win, but my only option is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic showing to start in third in the wet

Hadjar secured eighth ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, up to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was could use his electric start to rescue a point after the worst qualifying performance of his racing life