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

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer 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 the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will secure the title 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 strong in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

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

Following Qatar, the last event of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the title losing the victory to Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging performance streak continued as his title hopes wane

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place after starting at the back

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

However following an aggressive cut 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 corner

That enabled Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

George Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

Norris pitted five circuits after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his race engineer how to run the remainder of his event, essentially asking whether he should settle for second or attack

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was could hold off Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - just one behind both McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at least mathematically, although he requires issues for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to maximise everything we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

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

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need several of factors to go my way now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams lacking the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his impressive showing to qualify in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, up to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was could employ his strong beginning to salvage a point following the worst qualifying performance of his racing life