Norris Moves Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to his first world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will win the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

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 prestigious races were:

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

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

• A superb victory for Max Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th following starting at the back

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

However following an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the corner

That allowed Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver lost second place to George Russell

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

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

Norris pitted five circuits after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could return still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tires to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

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

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the margin increased significantly as the McLaren began to experience a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to optimize everything we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken 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 lost out to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating event from essentially start to finish in some ways," Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously require several of factors to go my way now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his impressive showing to qualify third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, up to 13th on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was could use his strong beginning to salvage a point after the worst qualifying session of his career