Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris moved closer to his first championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate 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 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

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

After Qatar, the last event of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the championship losing the win to Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging performance streak continued as his championship chances wane

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th following starting at the rear

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

But after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

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

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

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

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

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to manage the rest of his race, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the gap extended significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Even with losing almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at least theoretically, although he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise everything we've got," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri began fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

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 repass during the tire change phase

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on the durable compound following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was 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 remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the optimal situation 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 ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his impressive showing to start third in the wet weather

Hadjar secured eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a point following the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life