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

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the season, has not finished on the podium for six races

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

"It remains a good result to get second place. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

After Qatar, the final race of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

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

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

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

At the start, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his lead from starting first from Verstappen

However after an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

That enabled Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris also second place to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

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

Norris stopped five laps after the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the lead, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Norris returned after Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

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

He was told to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the margin extended substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Despite losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than both McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at least theoretically, even if he requires issues for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

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

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be 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 commented: "Just try to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to go my way now to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his impressive showing to start third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a point following the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life