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

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first world title with second place in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

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

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

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

Following Qatar, the last event of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the championship losing the victory to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's difficult performance streak continued as his title hopes diminish

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th following 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 Verstappen

However after an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

This allowed Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

Russell made an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

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

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

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

Norris asked his engineer how to manage the rest of his race, 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. Verstappen was readily could defend against Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the margin extended substantially as the McLaren car started to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Despite losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - only one behind both McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least theoretically, even if he needs problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've have," Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

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

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

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

"It proved to be a disappointing race from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his impressive performance to qualify third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, 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 strong beginning to salvage a point following the poorest qualifying performance of his career