Lando Norris Edges Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to his first championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate 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

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

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

"It's still a good result to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

Following Qatar, the last event of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

• Piastri's difficult run of form continued as his championship chances wane

• A superb victory for Verstappen to maintain him in the championship battle

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for tenth place after beginning at the rear

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

However following an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

This allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris lost second place to George Russell

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

George Russell made an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

Verstappen was able to return still in the lead, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

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

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the gap increased significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, although he requires problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to maximise everything we've got," Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri began fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a damaged front wing

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing event from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to favor me at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car lacking the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic performance to start third in the wet weather

Hadjar secured eighth place ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was could employ his strong beginning to salvage a championship point after the poorest qualifying session of his racing life