Norris Moves Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Takes Vegas Grand Prix Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will win the championship 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 first half of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

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

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

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

The key stories of one of Formula 1's most prestigious races included:

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

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

• A excellent win for Max Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th after beginning at the rear

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

However after an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner

That allowed 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 some early incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

George Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver pitted five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to return 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 tyres to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his engineer how to run the rest of his race, effectively asking whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily able to repel Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the margin increased significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Even with losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at least mathematically, even if he requires issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

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

"During the coming events we will try to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a damaged front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate 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

Piastri finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a disappointing race from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Simply attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry, after his impressive showing to qualify third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, rising to 13th on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life