Norris Advances Closer to Title as Verstappen Takes Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

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

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will win the championship in the Qatar as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

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

After Qatar, the final race of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Lando Norris continued his momentum towards the championship despite the victory to Verstappen

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

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

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

At the start, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

But after an forceful move 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 corner

This allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver also second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

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

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could return still in the first place, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tires to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his engineer how to manage the rest of his race, essentially asking whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily able to defend against Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Despite losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - just one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs issues for Norris in the final two events to pass him

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

"During the coming events we will try to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap following being clouted by Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a damaged front wing

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating event from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly require 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 capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to start third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a championship point after the worst qualifying session of his racing life