Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Verstappen Takes Vegas Grand Prix Victory

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

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will win 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 impressive in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

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

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

• Norris continued his momentum towards the title losing the win to Verstappen

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

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for tenth place after starting at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his lead from starting first from Verstappen

But after an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the turn

This enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver also second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

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

Norris stopped five laps after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

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

The British driver asked his race engineer how to run the rest of his event, effectively asking whether he should accept second or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with losing almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've have," Max Verstappen stated

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

Piastri began fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a frustrating event from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to favor me at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his heroic performance to start third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth place before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, up 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 able to employ his electric start to rescue a point after the worst qualifying session of his racing life