Norris Edges Closer to Title as Verstappen Claims Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will win the title in the Qatar 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 failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

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

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

• Lando Norris continued his progress towards the title losing the win to Max Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's difficult run of form persisted as his championship chances wane

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place after beginning at the rear

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from starting first from Verstappen

But after an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

George Russell made an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

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

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned behind George Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

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

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily could defend against Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren car began to suffer a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Despite losing nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - only one less than both McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a broken nose section

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a disappointing event from essentially start to finish in some ways," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his impressive performance to qualify third in the wet weather

Hadjar secured eighth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was could employ his electric start to rescue a point following the worst qualifying performance of his racing life