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

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

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming 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 first half of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the final race of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

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

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

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

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

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

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

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

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

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

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

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

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tires to warm up, soon reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Despite losing nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could hold off Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at least theoretically, even if he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

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

"During the coming events we will try to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

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

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing race from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry, after his impressive showing to qualify third in the wet

Hadjar secured eighth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his career