Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Vegas Grand Prix Win

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer to his first world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will claim the title in the Qatar as long as he does not lose 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 strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

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

Following Qatar, the final race of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Norris continued his momentum towards the title losing the victory to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult run of form continued as his title hopes diminish

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for tenth place after beginning at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from starting first from Verstappen

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

This enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

Russell made an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

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

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined after George Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris inquired his engineer how to manage the rest of his event, essentially asking whether he should settle for second or attack

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the margin increased substantially as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

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

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - just one less than both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at least theoretically, even if he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've have," Max Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a damaged front wing

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing race from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Just try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to favor me now to take the title, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his heroic performance to start third in the wet weather

Hadjar secured eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was could employ his strong beginning to rescue a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his career