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

McLaren's Lando Norris moved closer to his first championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will win the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 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 strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to praise Max and his team"

Following Qatar, the last event of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

• Piastri's difficult performance streak persisted as his title hopes wane

• A superb win for Max Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th after beginning at the back

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

However after an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the turn

That enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver also second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

Norris stopped five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

The British driver asked his race engineer how to run the rest of his event, essentially asking whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren began to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Even with dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

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

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

Oscar Piastri began fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a broken nose section

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres after pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a frustrating event from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to favor me at this stage to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, after his impressive performance to qualify in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, up to 13th on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to use his electric start to rescue a point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life