Norris Advances Closer to Championship as Verstappen Claims Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

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

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will win the championship in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong 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 at the beginning and was too punchy 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"

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

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the title despite the victory to Max Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's difficult performance streak persisted as his title hopes wane

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th after starting at the back

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

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

That enabled Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris lost second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

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

The McLaren driver stopped five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was able to return still in the lead, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Despite dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - only one behind the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, even if he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to win the event 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 places on the first circuit following being hit by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating event from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just attempt to put 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 all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his impressive showing to qualify third in the wet

Hadjar secured eighth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, up to 13th on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could employ his electric start to salvage a point after the poorest qualifying session of his career