Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Takes Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer to his first world title with second place in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will claim the title in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, 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 at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

After Qatar, the last event of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th after beginning at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

But following an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the corner

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

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

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

Verstappen was could return still in the lead, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Norris rejoined after Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver inquired his engineer how to run the remainder of his event, essentially asking whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined

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

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - just one behind the two McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to optimize everything we've got," Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri started fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit following being hit by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating event from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require several of factors to favor me at this stage to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams lacking the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his heroic performance to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

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