Lando Norris Advances Nearer to Title as Verstappen Secures Vegas Grand Prix Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden championship with second place in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into 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 over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

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

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

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

Following Qatar, the last event of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the championship despite the victory to Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place following beginning at the rear

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

But following an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the corner

This enabled Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris lost second place to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

George Russell undertook an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver pitted five laps following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the lead, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Norris returned after Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his engineer how to run the rest of his event, essentially asking whether he should accept second place or attack

He was told to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the margin increased substantially as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - just one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at least mathematically, even if he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

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

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a broken nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating 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: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to go my way now to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos 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 impressive showing to qualify third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, up to 13th 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 employ his electric start to rescue a championship point after the poorest qualifying session of his racing life