Norris Moves Closer to Title as Verstappen Claims Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden championship with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will secure the title in the Qatar 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 opening stages of the season, has not finished on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred early on and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to get second. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the last event of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the championship despite the victory to Verstappen

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

• A excellent victory for Verstappen to keep him in the championship battle

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place following beginning at the rear

At the start, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But following an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the corner

This enabled Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver also the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, quickly reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, effectively asking whether he should settle for second or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily could defend against Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with dropping almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - only one less than both McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he needs issues for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've got," Verstappen said

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

Piastri started fifth but lost two places on the opening lap following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a disappointing event from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Just try to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to start third in the wet

Isack Hadjar secured eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a point following the worst qualifying session of his career