Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Claims Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden world title with second place in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

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

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

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

"It's still a good result to get second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and Red Bull"

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 included:

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the title despite the win to Verstappen

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

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

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

From the beginning, Lando Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

However after an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

This allowed Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver lost second place to Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

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

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the first place, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined after George Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tires to settle, soon reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was told to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the gap extended substantially as the McLaren started to experience a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Despite dropping almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

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

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize 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 see where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but lost two places on the opening lap following being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

Piastri finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on the durable compound following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating race from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require several of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was could use his electric start to rescue a point after the worst qualifying session of his career