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

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden championship with second place in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will secure the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six races

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

"It remains 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 high-profile races were:

• Norris continued his momentum towards the title losing the win to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging performance streak continued as his title hopes diminish

• A superb win for Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

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

At the start, 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 Max Verstappen

But following an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, Norris 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

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

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

Verstappen was able to return still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Norris returned behind Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tires to warm up, quickly reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

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

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the margin increased significantly as the McLaren began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he requires problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

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

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention 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 also out to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a frustrating race from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of things to favor me now to win, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his impressive showing to start in third in the wet weather

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

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

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could use his strong beginning to salvage a championship point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life