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

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris 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 next weekend

Norris 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

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

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

After Qatar, the last event of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship losing the victory to Verstappen

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

• A superb win for Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th after starting at the back

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

However following an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

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

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

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

Norris pitted five laps after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Norris returned behind Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, soon reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased significantly as the McLaren started to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Despite dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at least mathematically, although he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to optimize all we've got," Verstappen stated

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

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

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

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

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car lacking the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive showing to qualify in third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth place before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a point after the worst qualifying session of his racing life