Norris Advances Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Takes Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will win the title in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the final race of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form continued 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 tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a 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 battled aggressively to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But after an forceful move in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the corner

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

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

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

The McLaren driver stopped five laps following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his engineer how to manage the rest of his race, essentially asking whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin extended substantially as the McLaren started to experience a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Even with dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

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

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a damaged nose section

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing race from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Piastri informed race broadcasters

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

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic showing to qualify in third in the wet

Isack Hadjar took eighth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, up to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point following the worst qualifying performance of his racing life