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

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last 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

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and Red Bull"

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

The key stories of one of Formula 1's most high-profile races included:

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

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

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

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

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

However following an forceful move in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

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

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

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

Norris stopped five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, soon closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his engineer how to run the rest of his race, essentially asking whether he should accept second place or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he needs problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to optimize everything we've have," Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri started in fifth but lost two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate 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

Piastri finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing race from essentially start to finish in some ways," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need several of things to go my way now to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his impressive performance to qualify in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was could use his electric start to salvage a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his career