Lando Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Verstappen Claims Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

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

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim the championship in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

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

After Qatar, the last event of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

The key stories of one of Formula 1's most high-profile races included:

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place after beginning at the back

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

But following an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

That enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris also the runner-up spot to George Russell

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

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could return still in the lead, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34

Norris inquired his engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second or attack

He was told to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren car began to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with dropping almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he requires problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise everything we've got," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri began fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged nose section

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 able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing race from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of factors to favor me now to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his heroic showing to qualify third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar took eighth place before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, up to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to use his electric start to salvage a point after the worst qualifying performance of his career