Lando Norris Advances Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Claims Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the final race of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the title losing the win to Max Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place following beginning at the back

At the start, Lando Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

But after an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

This allowed Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver also second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

Russell made an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen remained on track

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

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

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

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

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Even with losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was could hold off Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - just one behind the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to maximise all we've got," Max Verstappen said

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

Oscar Piastri began fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit after being hit by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a damaged nose section

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a frustrating event from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need quite a lot of things to favor me now to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to qualify in third in the wet

Hadjar secured eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was could employ his strong beginning to salvage a point following the poorest qualifying session of his career