Norris Edges Closer to Title as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to his first championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will win the title 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 strong in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to secure 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 among Formula 1's most prestigious races were:

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

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his title hopes wane

• A excellent victory for Verstappen to maintain him in the championship battle

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

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

However following an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the turn

That enabled Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver lost second place to Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

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

The McLaren driver pitted five laps after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the first place, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned behind Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tires to settle, quickly closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to run the rest of his event, effectively asking whether he should settle for second or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased substantially as the McLaren car began to experience a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Even with losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - just one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he requires issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

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

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

Piastri started fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap following being clouted by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a damaged front wing

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

Piastri finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on the durable compound after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

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

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams missing the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his heroic performance to start third in the wet

Hadjar took eighth place before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was could use his electric start to rescue a point after the poorest qualifying session of his career