Lando Norris Advances Closer to Title as Verstappen Claims Vegas Grand Prix Win

McLaren's Lando Norris moved closer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

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

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

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

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred early on and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

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

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

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

• Norris maintained his progress towards the title despite the win to Verstappen

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

• A excellent win for Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th following beginning at the back

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from pole position from Verstappen

But following an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the corner

That allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver also the runner-up spot to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined after George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tires to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

Norris inquired his engineer how to run the rest of his race, essentially questioning whether he should accept second place or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - just one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least theoretically, even if he requires problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to maximise everything we've got," Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri started fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a broken front wing

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on the durable compound after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing event from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, 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 now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive performance to start third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion made 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 could use his electric start to salvage a championship point after the poorest qualifying session of his racing life