Lando Norris Moves Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first championship with second place in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will win the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six races

"Verstappen 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 good result to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the last event of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship despite the win to Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult run of form persisted as his championship chances wane

• A superb victory 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 single point for tenth place after starting at the back

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

However after an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Verstappen to drive past 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 Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

George Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

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

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

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tyres to warm up, soon closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his race engineer how to manage the rest of his race, effectively asking whether he should settle for second or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily could defend against Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the margin extended substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at least theoretically, although he requires issues for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise everything we've got," Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit following being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a damaged nose section

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

Piastri ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing event from essentially start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Just try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require several of factors to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his impressive performance to qualify third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and continued 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 rescue a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his career