Norris Edges Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Vegas Grand Prix Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will win the title in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six races

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

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

Following 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 maintained his momentum towards the title losing the victory to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his title hopes diminish

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th following starting at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

But after an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

This allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris lost second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

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

Norris pitted five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Norris returned behind Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver asked his race engineer how to run the rest of his event, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was readily could defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Even with losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to optimize everything we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a broken front wing

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on the durable compound after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a frustrating race from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need several of things to favor me at this stage to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his heroic showing to qualify third in the wet weather

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

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

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was could employ his strong beginning to rescue a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his career