Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first world title with second place in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will win the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen 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 high-profile races were:

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

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

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place after starting at the back

At the start, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his lead from pole position from Verstappen

However after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

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

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits after the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

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 pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to warm up, quickly reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his race engineer how to run the rest of his race, essentially asking whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily able to defend against Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin increased significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to optimize all we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit following being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a broken front wing

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need quite a lot of things to favor me now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his heroic performance to qualify in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to salvage a point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life