Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Vegas Grand Prix Victory

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

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

Norris will secure the championship in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

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

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

The main developments of among Formula 1's most high-profile races included:

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship losing the win to Verstappen

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

• A excellent win for Verstappen to maintain him in the championship battle

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

At the start, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

But following an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's attack on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the corner

That enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris also the runner-up spot to Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

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

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the lead, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Norris returned after Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tires to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was told to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Even with losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - just one behind the two McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to pass him

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

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a broken front wing

He followed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on the durable compound after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a disappointing race from essentially start to finish in some ways," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly require several of things to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, up to 13th on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was could use his strong beginning to salvage a point after the worst qualifying performance of his racing life