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

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will win the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six races

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

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

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

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

• Norris continued his momentum towards the title despite the win to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult run of form continued as his title hopes diminish

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th after starting at the back

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

However after an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

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

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

Russell made an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

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

Verstappen was able to return still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, soon closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, essentially asking whether he should accept second or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily able to defend against Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the margin extended substantially as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with dropping almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion 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 always try to maximise everything we've got," Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri started fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a damaged front wing

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on hard tyres after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Just attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his heroic showing to start in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, rising to 13th on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was could use his electric start to salvage a championship point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life