Lando Norris Edges Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will win the title in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

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

The key stories of one of Formula 1's most high-profile races were:

• Norris continued his progress towards the championship losing the victory to Max Verstappen

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

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for tenth place following beginning at the rear

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

However following an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

That allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver also the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

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

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

Norris returned behind Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tires to settle, quickly closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased substantially as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than both McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to maximise everything we've got," Max Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a broken nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a disappointing race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously need several of things to go my way now to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet

Isack Hadjar secured eighth place before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He became trapped 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