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

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

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

The Briton will claim the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to get second place. I've got to praise Max and his team"

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

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

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

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place following starting at the rear

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

But after an forceful move in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

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

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

George Russell undertook an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

Norris pitted five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Norris rejoined after Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tires to warm up, soon reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, essentially asking whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was readily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended substantially as the McLaren car began to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, although he needs problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've have," Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a damaged front wing

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a frustrating event from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to go my way now to win, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams car missing the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his heroic showing to start third in the wet

Hadjar secured eighth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and 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 group of other cars but was could employ his electric start to rescue a championship point following the worst qualifying performance of his racing life