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

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming 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 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the podium for six races

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

"It's still a good result to secure second. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

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

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

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the championship losing the win to Max Verstappen

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

• A superb victory for Max Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place after starting at the rear

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

However after an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the corner

This allowed Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris lost second place to Russell

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

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

The McLaren driver stopped five laps following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned behind Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, soon closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

The British driver asked his engineer how to run the remainder of his event, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap increased significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - just one less than both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he needs problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to maximise all we've got," Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri began fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a broken front wing

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on the durable compound after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating event from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Simply try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need several of things to favor me now to win, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his impressive performance to qualify third in the wet

Hadjar secured eighth place before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, up to 13th on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could use his electric start to salvage a point following the worst qualifying session of his career