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

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will secure the championship in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than 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

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that first turn," stated Norris

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

After Qatar, the final race of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

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

• Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his championship chances diminish

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place after starting 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 starting first from Verstappen

But following an forceful move in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

That enabled Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris also second place to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

Norris stopped five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

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

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tires to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the rest of his event, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily able to repel Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased substantially as the McLaren began to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to optimize all we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri began in fifth but lost two places on the first circuit after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken nose section

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a frustrating event from essentially start to finish in some ways," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to go my way now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to start third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

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