Norris Edges Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Claims Vegas Grand Prix Victory

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

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will claim the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

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

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

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

Following Qatar, the final race of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

The key stories of among Formula 1's most prestigious races were:

• Norris maintained his momentum towards the title losing the win to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his title hopes diminish

• A excellent victory for Max Verstappen to maintain him in the championship battle

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for tenth place following beginning at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But following an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the corner

That enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver lost second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

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

The McLaren driver stopped five circuits after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver asked his engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to optimize all we've got," Max Verstappen stated

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

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

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a frustrating event from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Simply attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to go my way now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams missing the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his heroic performance to start third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a point following the worst qualifying performance of his racing life