Norris Advances Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden world title with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the season, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

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

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

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the title despite the win to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging performance streak continued as his championship chances diminish

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place after beginning at the back

At the start, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

But following an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman'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 first place while the British driver lost second place to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

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

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

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

Norris rejoined after Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to run the remainder of his race, essentially asking whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren car began to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - just one behind both McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at least mathematically, although he requires issues for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've have," Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will attempt 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"

Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken front wing

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a frustrating race from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require several of things to favor me now to take the title, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams car lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his impressive showing to start in third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar secured eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

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

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was able to use his strong beginning to salvage a championship point following the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life