Norris Edges Nearer to Title as Verstappen Claims Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

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

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will claim the championship in the Qatar as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

"It's still a good result to get second place. I've got to praise Max and his team"

After 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 prestigious races included:

• Norris maintained his momentum towards the title losing the win to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his title hopes diminish

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

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

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

But after an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the turn

That allowed Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

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

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

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

Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, essentially asking whether he should accept second place or attack

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren began to experience a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was could hold off Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, although he requires problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise everything 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 see where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri began in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap following being hit by Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a broken front wing

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

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres following pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a frustrating race from essentially start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Simply try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his impressive showing to start in third in the wet

Isack Hadjar secured eighth place before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

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

He got stuck in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was able to use his electric start to rescue a point following the poorest qualifying session of his racing life