Norris Advances Closer to Title as Verstappen Takes Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming 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

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

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

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

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's difficult performance streak persisted as his title hopes diminish

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

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

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

But following an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the corner

This allowed Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris also second place to Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

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

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

Lando Norris returned behind George Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris 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 told to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the margin extended substantially as the McLaren car began to experience a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

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

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - only one behind both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to optimize all we've got," Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken nose section

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on the durable compound following stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

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

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his impressive performance to qualify in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, rising to 13th on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was able to employ his electric start to rescue a point following the worst qualifying session of his career