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

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will claim the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the season, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the last event of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

The key stories of among Formula 1's most prestigious races included:

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

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

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

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

From the beginning, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

But following an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the turn

This allowed Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver also second place to Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

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

Norris stopped five laps after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the lead, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to settle, soon closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the rest of his event, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was told to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily could defend against Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Even with losing almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to maximise everything we've have," Verstappen said

"During the coming events 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 the entire team"

Piastri began in fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a damaged nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

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

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need several of factors to favor me at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his heroic showing to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

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