Lando Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

McLaren's Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden world title with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will secure the title in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It remains a good result to get second. I've got to praise Verstappen and Red Bull"

Following Qatar, the final race of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

The key stories of one of Formula 1's most high-profile races were:

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

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

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

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

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

But following an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

That enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

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

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

The McLaren driver stopped five circuits following the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tires to warm up, soon closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver asked his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, effectively questioning whether he should accept second place or attack

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily could defend against Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Despite losing nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he requires problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

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

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

Piastri started fifth but lost two places on the first circuit following being hit by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a broken front wing

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on the durable compound after stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating race from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry, after his impressive performance to qualify in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was able to employ his electric start to rescue a point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life