Lando Norris Advances Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden world title with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

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

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Max had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," said 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 takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Lando Norris continued his momentum towards the title despite the victory to Verstappen

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

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th after beginning at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from pole position from Verstappen

But after an forceful move in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver lost second place to Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

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

Norris pitted five circuits following the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was able to return still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, soon closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver inquired his engineer how to manage the rest of his race, effectively asking whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin increased significantly as the McLaren started to experience a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Even with dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one less than both McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he requires issues for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to optimize all we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri began in fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a damaged front wing

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

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 given a five-second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a disappointing race from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

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 quite a lot of things to favor me now to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic showing to start third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar took eighth place before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was could use his electric start to rescue a point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life