Lando Norris Advances Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Claims Vegas Grand Prix Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden world title with second place in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

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

The Briton will secure the title in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Max had a good race. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

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

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

• Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship losing the victory to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his championship chances wane

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th following starting at the back

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

However following an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

This allowed Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver lost second place to Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

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

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

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

Lando Norris rejoined after George Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, soon closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his engineer how to run the rest of his event, effectively questioning whether he should accept second or attack

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

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

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to optimize everything we've got," Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri started fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a damaged nose section

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a frustrating event from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Piastri informed 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 need several of things to favor me now to win, but my only option is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams lacking the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic showing to start third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar secured eighth place ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, up to 13th on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to salvage a point following the worst qualifying performance of his career