Lando Norris Advances Closer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden championship 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 finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last 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 seventeen to Verstappen

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

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that first turn," stated Norris

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

Following Qatar, the final race of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Norris maintained his progress towards the championship losing the win to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his championship chances wane

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

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

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

But after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the turn

This enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris also the runner-up spot to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

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

Norris stopped five laps after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the first place, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

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

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

He was told to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the gap increased substantially as the McLaren car started to experience a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - only one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he requires problems for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to optimize everything we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a damaged nose section

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing race from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his impressive showing to qualify third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar took eighth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was able to use his electric start to salvage a championship point following the worst qualifying session of his career