Norris Advances Nearer to Title as Verstappen Claims Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

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

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

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

The Australian driver, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

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

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

Following Qatar, the final race of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Lando Norris continued his momentum towards the title losing the victory to Verstappen

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

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

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

From the beginning, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from starting first from Verstappen

However after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the turn

That allowed Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris also second place to Russell

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

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

Norris pitted five laps after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

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

Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tires to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34

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

He was told to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin extended substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he requires issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a damaged nose section

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

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

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require several of things to go my way now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his impressive performance to qualify third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a point following the worst qualifying session of his career