Norris Advances Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Win

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

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

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

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

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

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

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the title despite the victory to Max Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his championship chances wane

• A excellent victory for Max Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th following starting at the rear

From the beginning, Lando Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But after an forceful move in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the corner

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

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

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

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

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

Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, soon closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

Norris asked his engineer how to run the rest of his event, effectively asking whether he should accept second place or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could defend against Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the gap extended significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Even with losing nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than both McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least mathematically, although he requires issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise everything we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but lost two places on the first circuit following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a broken front wing

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a disappointing event from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Just attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need several of things to favor me now to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to qualify third in the wet

Hadjar took eighth ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his career