Norris Edges Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Vegas Grand Prix Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will secure the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

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

"Max had a strong performance. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that first turn," stated Norris

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

Following Qatar, the final race 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:

• 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 win for Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th following starting at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

However after an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the turn

That enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris lost second place 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, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

Russell made an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Verstappen remained on track

Norris pitted five laps following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined after George Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to settle, quickly closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his engineer how to run the rest of his race, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily able to defend against Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended significantly as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one behind both McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've got," Verstappen stated

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

Piastri started fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a damaged nose section

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on the durable compound after stopping during the initial VSC, 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 essentially start to finish in certain respects," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Simply attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of factors to favor me now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car lacking the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his impressive showing to start in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was able to employ his electric start to rescue a point following the worst qualifying session of his career