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

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

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

The Briton will secure the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that first turn," stated Norris

"It's still a good result 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 7 December

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

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

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

• A superb victory for Max Verstappen to keep him in the championship battle

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th following beginning at the rear

At the start, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

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

This allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris also the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his engineer how to run the rest of his race, essentially questioning whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily could defend against Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the gap extended substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least mathematically, although he requires issues for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to optimize all we've got," Verstappen said

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

Oscar Piastri began fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a broken front wing

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a disappointing event from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require several of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his heroic performance to qualify in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion made a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a point after the poorest qualifying session of his racing life