Lando Norris Edges Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Vegas Grand Prix Victory

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

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will claim the championship in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

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

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

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

• Norris maintained his momentum towards the title despite the victory to Max Verstappen

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

• A superb win for Max Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place following beginning 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 defend his lead from starting first from Verstappen

But after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the corner

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

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

Russell undertook an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

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

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to settle, soon closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on lap 34

Norris inquired his engineer how to run the remainder of his race, essentially questioning whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the margin increased substantially as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Despite losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at least theoretically, although he needs issues for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've got," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri started fifth but lost two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken front wing

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on hard tyres after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating race from essentially start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need several of factors to favor me now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his impressive performance to start third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could employ his strong beginning to salvage a point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life