Lando Norris Edges Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Claims Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

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 now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will claim the championship in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

"It remains a good result to get second. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

After Qatar, the final race 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 continued his progress towards the championship losing the victory to Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult run of form persisted as his title hopes diminish

• A superb victory for Max Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

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

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

But following an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the turn

That enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris lost second place to George Russell

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

George Russell made an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

Norris stopped five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, soon closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

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 "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily able to defend against Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin increased significantly as the McLaren began to experience a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could hold off Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - just one behind the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise everything we've got," Verstappen said

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

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a damaged front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on the durable compound after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a frustrating event from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Just attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require several of things to favor me at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his impressive performance to start in third in the wet

Hadjar took eighth ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

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

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to use his strong beginning to salvage a championship point after the worst qualifying session of his career