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

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will secure the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six races

"Max had a good race. I erred early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

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

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his title hopes diminish

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place after 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 protect his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

But after an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris also the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

The McLaren driver stopped five laps following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

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

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to settle, soon closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the rest of his event, essentially asking whether he should accept second place or attack

He was told to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin increased significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

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

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

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

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

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

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres after stopping 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 replays

"It proved to be a frustrating event from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require several of things 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 benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his impressive performance to qualify in third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar took eighth ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a flying start, up to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was could employ his electric start to salvage a point following the poorest qualifying performance of his career