Lando Norris Advances Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer to his first championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will secure the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over 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 top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

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

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's difficult performance streak continued as his title hopes diminish

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place following beginning at the back

At the start, Lando Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from pole position from Verstappen

However after an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris lost second place to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

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

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

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the lead, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined after George Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to warm up, quickly reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his engineer how to run the rest of his event, effectively asking whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily could defend against Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - only one behind both McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a broken nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a frustrating race from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require several of factors to go my way now to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive showing to qualify third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could use his electric start to rescue a championship point following the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life