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

McLaren's Lando Norris moved closer to his first world title with second place in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton 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 first half of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

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

After Qatar, the last event of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

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

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

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

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from starting first from Verstappen

But following an forceful move in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

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

The McLaren driver stopped five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could return still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to run the rest of his event, 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. Verstappen was readily could defend against Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost 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 Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he requires issues for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to maximise all we've have," Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit after being hit by Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a broken nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on the durable compound after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a frustrating event from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need quite a lot of things to go my way now to win, but my only option is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, after his heroic performance to start third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was could employ his electric start to rescue a point after the worst qualifying session of his racing life