Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Vegas Grand Prix Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will win the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

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

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

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

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship despite the victory to Max Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place following beginning at the rear

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

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

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

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

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

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

Verstappen was could return still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined after George Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to settle, soon closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his race engineer how to manage the rest of his event, essentially asking whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily could defend against Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with dropping almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could defend against Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he needs issues for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to optimize all we've have," Max Verstappen stated

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

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but lost two places on the first circuit following being hit by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a damaged nose section

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a frustrating event from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need quite a lot of things 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 held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his impressive performance to qualify third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth before the Sauber of 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 became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point following the worst qualifying session of his career