Lando Norris Edges Closer to Championship as Verstappen Claims Vegas Grand Prix Victory

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

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

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

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

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

"It remains a good result to secure second place. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

Following Qatar, the final race of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Lando Norris continued his momentum towards the championship despite the win to Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult performance streak persisted as his title hopes diminish

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th after beginning at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

But after an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

That enabled Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver also the runner-up spot to Russell

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

George Russell made an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

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

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

Norris inquired his engineer how to manage the rest of his event, essentially questioning whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was readily could repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren started to experience a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to optimize everything we've got," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a damaged front wing

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a frustrating event from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require several of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams lacking the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive performance to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could employ his electric start to rescue a point after the worst qualifying performance of his career