Lando Norris Edges Closer to Title as Verstappen Takes Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim the championship in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

"It remains a good result to get second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

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

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

• Norris maintained his progress towards the title losing the victory to Max Verstappen

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

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

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

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

But after an forceful move in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

This allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver stopped five circuits following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Norris returned behind George Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tyres to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

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

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - only one behind both McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've got," Max Verstappen stated

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

Oscar Piastri began fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a damaged nose section

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

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating event from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his heroic showing to qualify third in the wet

Hadjar secured eighth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, up to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was could use his electric start to salvage a championship point following the worst qualifying performance of his racing life