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

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden world title with second place 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 thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will secure the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen 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 good race. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to get second. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the last event 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 title despite the win to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form continued as his title hopes wane

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th following beginning at the back

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

But following an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

That enabled Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris also second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

George Russell made an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

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

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the first place, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to settle, soon closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his engineer how to run the remainder of his event, effectively questioning whether he should accept second place or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Even with dropping almost three seconds a lap, Norris was could hold off Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he requires issues for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to maximise everything we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri began fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged nose section

He trailed 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 overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a disappointing event from essentially start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to favor me now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic performance to start third in the wet

Isack Hadjar secured eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a flying start, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to employ his electric start to salvage a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his career