Lando Norris Advances Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Takes Vegas Grand Prix Win

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

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

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

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

"Max had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that first turn," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to secure second. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

After Qatar, the last event of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

The key stories of among Formula 1's most high-profile races included:

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

• Oscar Piastri's difficult run of form continued as his title hopes diminish

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place after beginning at the back

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

But following an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the turn

This allowed Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver lost second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

Norris stopped five circuits after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

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

Norris returned behind Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tires to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on lap 34

Norris inquired his race engineer how to run the remainder of his event, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the margin extended substantially as the McLaren began to experience a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Despite dropping almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try 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 everyone"

Piastri started in fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a broken front wing

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

The Australian finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

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

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly need several of things to favor me now to take the title, 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 Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams lacking the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his heroic showing to qualify third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

He got stuck in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a point after the worst qualifying session of his career