Norris Edges Closer to Championship as Verstappen Claims Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer to his first championship with second place in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim the championship in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that first turn," stated Norris

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

Following 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:

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

• Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his championship chances diminish

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th following beginning at the rear

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

However after an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

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

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

George Russell made an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

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

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned behind George Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, effectively asking whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased substantially as the McLaren started to experience a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to optimize everything we've have," Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends 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 first circuit following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a damaged front wing

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position 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 ran nearly the whole event on the durable compound following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing race from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require several of things to go my way now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive performance to start third in the wet

Isack Hadjar secured eighth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was could employ his strong beginning to salvage a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his career