Norris Moves Closer to Title as Verstappen Secures Vegas Grand Prix Victory

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

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

The Briton will secure the title in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the season, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to secure second. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

After Qatar, the final race of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the title losing the win to Verstappen

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

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th following starting at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

However following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

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

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

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

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

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned behind George Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to warm up, soon reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily able to repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car started to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Even with losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've have," Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will try to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit after being hit by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a damaged nose section

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

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating race from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Just attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of factors to favor me now to win, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams missing the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, after his impressive performance to qualify third in the wet

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

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

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to salvage a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his career