Lando Norris Edges Nearer to Title as Verstappen Claims Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

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

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will win the title in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

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

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

After Qatar, the last event of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

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

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

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th following beginning at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from pole position from Verstappen

But after an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the turn

That enabled Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris also the runner-up spot 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 Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

George Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

Norris pitted five laps following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the first place, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to settle, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his engineer how to run the remainder of his event, effectively asking whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily could defend against Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the gap increased substantially as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has thus 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 built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've got," Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri started fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a broken nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a disappointing race from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously need several of things to favor me at this stage to win, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams missing the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his impressive performance to qualify third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to employ his electric start to salvage a championship point after the worst qualifying session of his career