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

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will win the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

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

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

Following Qatar, the final race of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Norris maintained his momentum towards the title losing the victory to Max Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place following starting at the back

At the start, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

But following an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

That enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver also the runner-up spot to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

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

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Max 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 car despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to warm up, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, essentially asking whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - just one less than both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he needs problems for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've have," Max Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri began fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a broken nose section

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

Piastri finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing event from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously need several of things to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry, after his heroic showing to qualify in third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar took eighth place ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the first lap and continued to advance positions

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