Norris Edges Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Claims Vegas Grand Prix Victory

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

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming 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 impressive in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

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

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the final race of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

The key stories of among Formula 1's most high-profile races included:

• Norris continued his progress towards the title losing the victory to Verstappen

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

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

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

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

But following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

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

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver stopped five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned behind Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver asked his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, effectively asking 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 no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

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

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on the durable compound following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to go my way now to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his impressive showing to qualify in third in the wet

Hadjar secured eighth ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could use his electric start to salvage a championship point after the worst qualifying session of his career