Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will secure the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six races

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

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

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

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

• Norris continued his momentum towards the championship losing the win to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult performance streak continued as his championship chances wane

• A excellent victory for Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th after beginning at the rear

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

But after an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the corner

This allowed Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris lost second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

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

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

Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, effectively questioning whether he should accept second place or attack

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily able to defend against Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the margin increased substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he needs problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

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

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a broken 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 Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost 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 violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a disappointing race from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly 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 ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, following his impressive showing to qualify in third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar secured eighth place before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a championship point following the worst qualifying performance of his career