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

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to his first championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will win the championship in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the season, has not finished on the podium for six races

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

"It remains a good result to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and Red Bull"

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

The key stories of one of Formula 1's most high-profile races were:

• Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship despite the victory to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's difficult performance streak persisted as his championship chances wane

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

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

From the beginning, Lando Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from starting first from Verstappen

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

That allowed Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris also the runner-up spot 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 slowly stamped his authority on the event

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

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

Verstappen was able to return still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned behind Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

The British driver asked his race engineer how to run the remainder of his race, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've have," Max Verstappen said

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

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

He followed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on the durable compound after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

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

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to favor me at this stage to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams missing the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, after his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet weather

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

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

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to employ his electric start to salvage a championship point after the worst qualifying session of his racing life