Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Claims Vegas Grand Prix Win

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last 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 seventeen to Verstappen

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

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

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

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

• Norris continued his momentum towards the championship losing the victory to Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place following starting at the rear

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

But following an forceful move in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

That allowed Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver also second place to George Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

George 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 after the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to warm up, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his race engineer how to run the rest of his race, essentially questioning whether he should accept second place or attack

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily could repel Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the margin extended substantially as the McLaren started to experience a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - just one less than both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've got," Max Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap following being clouted by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a broken nose section

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on hard tyres after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a disappointing event from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require several of factors to go my way now to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive showing to qualify third in the wet weather

Hadjar secured eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was could employ his strong beginning to rescue a point after the poorest qualifying session of his career