Lando Norris Advances Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden world title 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 in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will claim the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Max had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that first turn," stated Norris

"It remains a good result to secure second. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

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

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

• Norris maintained his progress towards the title losing the victory to Verstappen

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

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

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

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

However after an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

That allowed Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris also second place to Russell

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

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

Norris pitted five laps following the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris returned behind George Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to run the rest of his event, essentially asking whether he should settle for 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 readily able to defend against Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended significantly as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Even with dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was could defend against Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

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

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri started fifth but lost two places on the opening lap following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

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

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously need several of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car missing the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following 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 made a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to employ his electric start to rescue a championship point following the poorest qualifying performance of his career