Norris Advances Closer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

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

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Max had a good race. I erred early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

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

Following Qatar, the last event of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

• Piastri's difficult run of form continued as his championship chances wane

• A superb win for Max Verstappen to maintain him in the championship battle

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

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

But following an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

This allowed Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris lost the runner-up spot to Russell

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

George Russell undertook an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver pitted five laps after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

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

Norris asked his race engineer how to run the rest of his event, essentially questioning whether he should accept second or attack

He was told to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily could defend against Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - just one behind both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at least theoretically, even if he requires issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri began fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a damaged front wing

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

The Australian finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing race from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of things to favor me at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car lacking the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, after his impressive performance to start third in the wet

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

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

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a point after the worst qualifying session of his career