Lando Norris Moves Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden championship with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

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

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

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

"It's still a good result to get second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

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

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the title despite the victory to Verstappen

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

• A superb win for Verstappen to keep him in the championship battle

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th after starting at the rear

At the start, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from pole position from Verstappen

But after an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

That allowed Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver lost second place to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

The McLaren driver pitted five laps following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

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

Lando Norris rejoined after Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver asked his race engineer how to manage the rest of his race, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second or attack

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily could defend against Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - only one behind the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, even if he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to optimize all we've have," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit after being hit by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He followed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

The Australian finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a frustrating race from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Simply attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage 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 Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his heroic showing to qualify in third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar took eighth ahead of the Sauber of 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 DRS train with a group of other cars but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his career