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

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

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will win the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Max had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

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

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

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

• Piastri's difficult performance streak continued as his championship chances wane

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

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

At the start, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

However following an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

This enabled Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver also second place to Russell

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

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Verstappen remained on track

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

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Norris returned after George Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to warm up, soon closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

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

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the gap increased substantially as the McLaren began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Despite dropping almost 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 win of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he needs problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've got," Verstappen said

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

Piastri began in fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a broken front wing

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

Piastri finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing race from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly need several of things to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his heroic showing to qualify third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a point following the poorest qualifying session of his career