Norris Advances Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Takes Las Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

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

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the season, has not finished on the podium for six races

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

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

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

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

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

• Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his title hopes diminish

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th following beginning at the rear

At the start, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from pole position from Verstappen

However following an forceful move in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

This allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

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

George Russell made 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 driver and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind 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 lap 34

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the rest of his race, effectively asking whether he should accept second or attack

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to repel Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Even with losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at least mathematically, even if he requires issues for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

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

"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 finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken nose section

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on hard tyres after pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a frustrating race from essentially start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Just attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require several of things to go my way now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car lacking the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could employ his electric start to salvage a point following the worst qualifying session of his career