Lando Norris Advances Closer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will secure the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to get second. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

Following Qatar, the last event of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Lando Norris continued his momentum towards the title despite the win to Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place following beginning at the back

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

However after an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner

This allowed Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver also the runner-up spot to George Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

Russell made an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

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

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined after George Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, soon closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to manage the rest of his race, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased significantly as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

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

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he needs problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've have," Max Verstappen stated

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

Piastri started fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a broken front wing

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

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing event from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly need several of things to favor me at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, after his impressive performance to start in third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar secured eighth ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, rising to 13th on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was could employ his strong beginning to salvage a point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life