Lando Norris Advances Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Claims Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim the title in the Qatar as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

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

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

"It remains a positive outcome to get second. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

Following Qatar, the final race of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship despite the victory to Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult run of form continued as his title hopes wane

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place following starting at the back

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

But following an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

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

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

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

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

Verstappen was could return still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to warm up, soon closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, effectively asking whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren started to experience a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Even with losing almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to pass 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 take victory in the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a broken nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost 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 violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating race from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Simply try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need several of factors to favor me now to win, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, after his heroic showing 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 made a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and continued 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 after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life