Lando Norris Advances Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Claims Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

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

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

Norris will claim the title in the desert as long as he does not lose 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 top three for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place after beginning at the back

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

But following an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the turn

This allowed Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver lost second place to George Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

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

The McLaren driver stopped five laps following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined after Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tires to warm up, quickly closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his race engineer how to manage the rest of his event, essentially asking whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was readily able to defend against Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the margin extended substantially as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with losing almost three seconds a lap, 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 win of the season - just one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at least mathematically, although he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to optimize all we've have," Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing event from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation 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 make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

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

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

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, up to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a point after the poorest qualifying session of his racing life