Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Verstappen Claims Vegas Grand Prix Victory

The McLaren 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 now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will claim the championship in the Qatar 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 first half of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the last event of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the title losing the win to Max Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his championship chances wane

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place after beginning at the rear

At the start, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But following an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

This enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris lost second place to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

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

Norris stopped five circuits following the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

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

Lando Norris rejoined after Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tires to settle, quickly closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

The British driver inquired his engineer how to manage the rest of his race, 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 little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily able to defend against Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the margin increased significantly as the McLaren began to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Despite losing almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at least theoretically, even if he needs problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

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

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the opening lap following being hit by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a frustrating race from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need several of things to go my way now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, following his heroic performance to start third in the wet

Hadjar took eighth place ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, up to thirteenth 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 use his electric start to rescue a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his racing life