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

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

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will claim the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I erred early on and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

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

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

• Lando Norris continued his momentum towards the title despite the victory to Verstappen

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

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

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

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from pole position from Verstappen

However following an forceful move in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

That enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver also second place to Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

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

The McLaren driver stopped five circuits following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

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

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could defend against Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased significantly as the McLaren started to experience a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Even with dropping almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at least mathematically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've have," Max Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap following being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a broken front wing

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a frustrating race from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require several of things to favor me now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car lacking the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his heroic showing to start third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a point after the worst qualifying session of his career