Lando Norris Edges Closer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Vegas Grand Prix Win

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

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will win the title in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that first turn," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to get second place. I've got to praise Max and his team"

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

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

• Norris maintained his progress towards the championship losing the victory to Max Verstappen

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

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th following beginning at the rear

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

But following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

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

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

Russell made an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

Norris pitted five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

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

Lando Norris returned behind Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver asked his engineer how to run the rest of his race, essentially questioning whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily could defend against Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the margin increased substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Despite losing almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was could hold off Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he requires problems for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to optimize everything we've got," Max Verstappen stated

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

Piastri started fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a damaged nose section

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

Piastri finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race 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 replays

"It proved to be a frustrating event from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Just try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require several of things to go my way now to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his impressive performance to start in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, up to 13th on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was could employ his electric start to salvage a point following the worst qualifying session of his career