Lando Norris Advances Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim the championship in the desert 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 consecutive events

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

"It's still a good result to get second place. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the final race of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the championship despite the victory to Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his title hopes wane

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

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

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 aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

This enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver lost second place to George Russell

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

George Russell undertook an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver stopped five laps after the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could return still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, soon reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, essentially asking whether he should accept second place or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily could defend against Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin increased substantially as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Even with losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he needs problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

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

"During the coming events we will try to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle 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 lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing race from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly 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 take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his impressive performance to start third in the wet

Isack Hadjar took eighth ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a flying start, up to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to use his electric start to rescue a point following the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life