Norris Advances Closer to Title as Verstappen Claims Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first 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 ended up in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will secure the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

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

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that first turn," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to secure second. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and Red Bull"

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

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

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

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

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place following starting at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But after an forceful move in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

That allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver also the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen remained on track

Norris stopped five circuits after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to run the rest of his race, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily could defend against Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the margin increased significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Even with losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one behind both McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, 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 everyone"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on the durable compound after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing race from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of factors to favor me now to win, 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 place, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic showing to qualify in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a point after the worst qualifying performance of his racing life