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

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden championship with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will win the championship in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It remains a good result to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

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

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

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

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

• A superb victory for Max Verstappen to keep him in the championship battle

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th after beginning at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

However following an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the turn

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

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

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

Norris pitted five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined after Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, soon reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

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

He was told to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car began to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - just one less than both McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at least mathematically, although he requires problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

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

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

Piastri began fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a damaged front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on the durable compound after pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing race from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Just attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to win, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his heroic showing to start in third in the wet

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

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

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life