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

McLaren's Lando Norris moved closer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will win the title in the Qatar 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 season, has not finished on the podium for six races

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

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

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

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

• Norris continued his momentum towards the title losing the win to Verstappen

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

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

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

From the beginning, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from starting first from Verstappen

But after an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

That enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver also second place to Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

George Russell made an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver pitted five laps following the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could return still in the lead, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris returned after George Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his engineer how to manage the rest of his event, essentially asking whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased substantially as the McLaren began to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Even with dropping almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - just one behind the two McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he requires issues for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to maximise everything we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit following being hit by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out 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 whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing event from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Just attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams car lacking the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive showing to qualify third in the wet weather

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

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

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was could use his electric start to salvage a point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life