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

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

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

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I erred early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

"It remains a good result to secure second. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

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

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the championship despite the win to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his championship chances wane

• A superb win for Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

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

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

However after an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

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

Norris pitted five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

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

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to warm up, soon closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the margin increased substantially as the McLaren began to experience a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

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

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require quite a lot 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 capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, after his impressive performance to qualify third in the wet

Hadjar secured eighth place before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

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

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to use his strong beginning to salvage a point following the worst qualifying performance of his career