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

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

Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim the championship in the Qatar 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 races

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

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

Following Qatar, the last event of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

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

• Piastri's difficult performance streak persisted as his championship chances wane

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th after starting at the back

At the start, Lando Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This allowed Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen remained on track

Norris pitted five laps following the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned after George Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

The British driver asked his race engineer how to run the remainder of his race, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've got," Verstappen said

"During the coming events 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 the entire team"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a damaged nose section

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on the durable compound after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing race from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require several of factors to go my way now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his heroic showing to qualify in third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar took eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to use his electric start to salvage a point after the poorest qualifying performance of his career