Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Verstappen Secures Vegas Grand Prix Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris moved closer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will secure the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a strong performance. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," 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 season takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Norris maintained his progress towards the title losing the victory to Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th following beginning at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But after an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

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

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

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

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tires to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while pursuing Verstappen

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

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

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

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on the durable compound following stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

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

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Just try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

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

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

The seven-time champion made a flying start, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to use his electric start to rescue a championship point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life