Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Claims Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will secure the title in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the podium for six races

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

"It remains a good result to secure second. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

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

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the championship despite the win to Max Verstappen

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

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place after starting at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

However following an forceful move in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver 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 the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

George Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

Norris stopped five circuits after the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could return still in the lead, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, soon reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on lap 34

The British driver asked his engineer how to manage the rest of his event, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily able to defend against Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the gap extended significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Even with losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he requires issues for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise everything we've have," 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 end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a broken nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing event from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of things to go my way now to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, after his heroic performance to start third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar took eighth place ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, up to 13th on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was able to use his electric start to salvage a point following the poorest qualifying session of his career