Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Takes Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden championship with second place in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

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

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

"It's still a good result to secure second. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the final race of the championship 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 championship losing the victory to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form continued as his title hopes diminish

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

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

At the start, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But after an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the corner

This allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris also the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver stopped five laps 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 close in on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined after George Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tires to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

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

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at least mathematically, although he needs problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise everything we've have," Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri began in fifth but lost two places on the opening lap following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on the durable compound following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a disappointing event from essentially start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to favor me now to win, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his impressive performance to qualify in third in the wet weather

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

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

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a point following the poorest qualifying performance of his career