Norris Advances Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Claims Vegas Grand Prix Win

McLaren's Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden championship with second place in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

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

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to get second. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

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

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the championship losing the victory to Max Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's difficult run of form persisted as his title hopes wane

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place after starting at the back

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

However following an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner

This enabled Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver also the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

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

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits following the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

Verstappen was able to return still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, essentially asking whether he should accept second place or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap extended significantly as the McLaren car began to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he requires problems 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," Verstappen said

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

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit following being clouted by Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a damaged front wing

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

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

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his impressive performance to start in third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar secured eighth place ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could employ his electric start to salvage a point following the poorest qualifying performance of his career