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

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to his first world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

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

Norris will win the championship in the desert 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 championship, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to get second. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

Following Qatar, the last event of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the title losing the victory to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form continued as his championship chances wane

• A superb victory for Verstappen to maintain him in the championship battle

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

From the beginning, Lando Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

However after an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

That allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

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

George Russell made an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

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

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned after George Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the margin increased substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Even with losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in championship 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 everything we've have," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a damaged front wing

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need several of factors to favor me at this stage to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams lacking the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry, after his heroic showing to start third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion made a flying start, up to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was able to use his electric start to rescue a championship point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life