Lando Norris Edges Closer to Title as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

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

"It's still a positive outcome to get second. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

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

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

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

• Piastri's difficult performance streak continued as his championship chances diminish

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for tenth place after starting at the rear

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his lead from pole position from Verstappen

But following an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

This allowed Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris also second place to Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver pitted five laps following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

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

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to warm up, soon closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his race engineer how to run the remainder of his event, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the margin increased significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory 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 requires problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

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

"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 extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being hit by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a damaged nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on the durable compound after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating event from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet

Isack Hadjar secured eighth place ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a flying start, up to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was could use his electric start to salvage a point after the worst qualifying performance of his career