Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Claims Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will win the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Max had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that first turn," stated Norris

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

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

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

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

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

• A excellent win for Verstappen to keep him in the championship battle

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

At the start, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But after an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's attack on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the corner

That enabled Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver also the runner-up spot to George Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

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

Norris pitted five laps following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to run the remainder of his event, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily could repel Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the gap extended significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at least mathematically, although he needs issues for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to maximise all we've have," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri started in fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a damaged nose section

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

Piastri finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on hard tyres after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating event from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require several of things to go my way at this stage to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his impressive showing to start in third in the wet

Isack Hadjar secured eighth place ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was able to use his electric start to salvage a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his racing life