Norris Advances Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Claims Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

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

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into 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 seventeen to Verstappen

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his championship chances wane

• A superb victory for Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th after beginning at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from pole position from Verstappen

But after an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

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

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

George Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

Norris stopped five circuits following the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to warm up, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his race engineer how to run the remainder of his event, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily able to defend against Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the margin increased significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Even with losing almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was could hold off Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - just one less than both McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, although he needs problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've have," Max Verstappen said

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

Piastri started fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a damaged nose section

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

The Australian finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Just try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to favor me now to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams lacking the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, after his impressive showing to start in third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar secured eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point after the poorest qualifying performance of his career