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

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden world title with second place in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

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

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

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his title hopes wane

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for tenth place following starting at the rear

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

But after an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

That enabled Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

The McLaren driver stopped five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

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

Norris returned after George Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his engineer how to run the remainder of his event, effectively questioning whether he should accept second place or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily could defend against Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the gap extended significantly as the McLaren car began to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - only one less than both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

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

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

Oscar Piastri started fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being hit by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged nose section

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on hard tyres after pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be 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 remaining events, he said: "Just attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but my only option is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his heroic performance to qualify in third in the wet weather

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

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

He got stuck in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was could use his strong beginning to salvage a championship point following the worst qualifying performance of his racing life