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

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden world title with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will secure the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six races

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

"It's still a good result to secure 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 December 7th

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

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

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

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th after starting at the back

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 block the Dutchman's attack on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

That allowed Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris also second place to Russell

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

George Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver pitted five laps following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the first place, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to settle, soon reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

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

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could defend against Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at least mathematically, although he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to optimize all we've got," Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a broken nose section

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

Piastri ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating event from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Just attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to win, but my only option is make myself 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 time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his impressive showing to start third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life