Lando Norris Advances Closer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Vegas Grand Prix Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden world title with second place in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth 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 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 championship, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

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

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

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

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

• Norris continued his momentum towards the championship despite the victory to Max Verstappen

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

• A superb win for Verstappen to maintain him in the championship battle

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

From the beginning, Lando Norris was true to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from starting first from Verstappen

But following an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

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

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

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

Norris pitted five circuits after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his engineer how to run the remainder of his event, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second or attack

He was told to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Even with dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - only one behind the two McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've have," Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will try to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri started fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a broken nose section

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on the durable compound following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was 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 said: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to go my way now to take the title, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

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

Isack Hadjar took eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, up to 13th on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a point following the poorest qualifying performance of his career