Lando Norris Edges Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Vegas Grand Prix Win

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

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

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

"It remains a positive outcome to get second. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and Red Bull"

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

The main developments of one of Formula 1's most prestigious races were:

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the title despite the win to Max Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's difficult run of form continued as his title hopes diminish

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place following beginning at the back

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

However following an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the turn

That enabled Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris lost the runner-up spot to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

Russell made an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

Norris stopped five circuits following the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the first place, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned after George Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris asked his engineer how to manage the rest of his race, effectively questioning whether he should accept second or attack

He was told to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased substantially as the McLaren car began to suffer a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against 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 - only one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at least theoretically, even if he requires issues for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to optimize all we've got," Max Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a broken nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a disappointing event from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need several of factors to favor me now to win, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams lacking the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his impressive performance to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was could employ his strong beginning to salvage a championship point after the worst qualifying session of his career