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

McLaren's Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden world title with second place in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

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

The Briton will secure the championship in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the top three for six races

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

"It's still a positive outcome to get second. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

Following Qatar, the final race of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Lando Norris continued his progress towards the title despite the victory to Verstappen

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

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place after beginning at the back

At the start, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from pole position from Verstappen

But following an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the turn

That enabled Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris lost the runner-up spot to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

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

The McLaren driver pitted five laps following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

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

Lando Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to warm up, quickly reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on lap 34

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

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily could repel Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren car began to suffer a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

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

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs problems for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've have," 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 in fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a damaged front wing

He followed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on the durable compound after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating event from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require several of things to go my way now to win, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his impressive performance to start third in the wet

Isack Hadjar secured eighth place ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

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

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was could employ his strong beginning to salvage a championship point following the worst qualifying session of his career