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

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden world title with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton 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

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

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that first turn," stated Norris

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

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

The key stories of among Formula 1's most high-profile races were:

• Norris continued his progress towards the title losing the victory to Max Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place after starting at the back

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

However after an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the corner

That enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

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

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

Lando Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his engineer how to run the rest of his race, effectively questioning whether he should accept second place or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased substantially as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with losing almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, even if he requires problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit following being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on hard tyres after pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a frustrating race from essentially start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to favor me at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his impressive showing to qualify in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was could employ his strong beginning to rescue a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his racing life