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

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

Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim the title 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 opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred early on and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

Following Qatar, the last event of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

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

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

• A superb victory for Max Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place after beginning at the rear

At the start, Lando Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

However after an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

This enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris also second place to Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

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

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

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the first place, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his race engineer how to run the remainder of his event, essentially questioning whether he should accept second or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased substantially as the McLaren began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was could defend against Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he requires issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

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

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

Piastri started in fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a damaged front wing

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

The Australian finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound following stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating event from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to favor me now to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his impressive showing to start third in the wet

Isack Hadjar took 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 proceeded to advance positions

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