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

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I erred early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and Red Bull"

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

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

• Lando Norris continued his progress towards the title despite the win to Verstappen

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

• A excellent victory for Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th following starting at the back

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

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

This allowed Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

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

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

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

Lando Norris rejoined after George Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his engineer how to run the rest of his race, essentially asking whether he should accept second or attack

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the margin increased significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Despite dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size 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 dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at least mathematically, although he needs 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 have," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri started fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit after being hit by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing race from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Just attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require several of things to go my way now to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams lacking the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive performance to start in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was could employ his electric start to rescue a championship point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life