Lando Norris Edges Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Claims Vegas Grand Prix Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden world title with second place in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim the title in the Qatar as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six races

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

Following 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 maintained his progress towards the championship losing the win to Max Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th after beginning at the rear

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from pole position from Verstappen

However following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

That enabled Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris lost second place to George Russell

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

Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver pitted five laps after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

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

Lando Norris returned behind George Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

The British driver asked his race engineer how to manage the rest of his race, essentially asking whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was told to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily able to defend against Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren began to experience a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - just one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he requires issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

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

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a broken nose section

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

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

"It proved to be a frustrating event from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Simply try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

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

Isack Hadjar took eighth place before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was could use his electric start to rescue a point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life