Lando Norris Advances Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Takes Las Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will win the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to get second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

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

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

• Norris continued his momentum towards the title despite the victory to Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging run of form continued as his championship chances diminish

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place following starting at the back

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

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

That allowed Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris also second place to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

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

Norris stopped five circuits after the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could return still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned behind Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to warm up, soon closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could defend against Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the margin increased significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

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

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri started fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a broken front wing

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

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

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously 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 something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams missing the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, after his impressive showing to qualify third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was able to use his electric start to rescue a point after the worst qualifying session of his career