Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Verstappen Takes Vegas Grand Prix Victory

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

Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

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

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Max had a good race. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and Red Bull"

Following Qatar, the last event of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

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

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

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

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

However following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner

This enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris lost second place to Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

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

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Norris returned behind Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was readily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin increased significantly as the McLaren car started to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - only one less than the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he requires issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

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

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a broken nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on the durable compound after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly need several of things to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his heroic performance to start third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, up to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

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