Lando Norris Edges Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Takes Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

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

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

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

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

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

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

• Norris maintained his progress towards the championship despite the victory to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form continued as his championship chances diminish

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place following starting at the rear

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

But after an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the turn

This enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver also second place to Russell

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

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

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

Verstappen was could return still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tires to settle, soon closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, effectively asking whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was could hold off Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires problems for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise everything we've have," Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will attempt 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"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit following being hit by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a damaged nose section

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

Piastri finished after Mercedes' 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 penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a frustrating event from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," 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 obviously need quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation 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 at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his heroic showing to start third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was could employ his electric start to rescue a championship point after the worst qualifying session of his career