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

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first championship with second place in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will secure the title in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish 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 first turn," stated Norris

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

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

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's challenging performance streak continued as his championship chances wane

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place following starting at the back

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But after an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner

This allowed Verstappen to drive past 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 beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

Russell undertook an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was could return still in the lead, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to settle, soon closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the margin increased substantially as the McLaren began to experience a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was could hold off Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - only one less than both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to optimize everything we've have," Max Verstappen said

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

Piastri began fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken front wing

He followed Liam 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 could repass during the tire change phase

The Australian finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost 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 clearly visible on replays

"It was a frustrating event from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Just try to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do 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 Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry, after his impressive performance to qualify third in the wet

Hadjar took eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, up to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He got stuck in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was able to use his electric start to salvage a point after the poorest qualifying session of his racing life