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

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to his first championship with second place in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will secure the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

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

"It's still a good result to get second. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

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

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

• Norris maintained his progress towards the championship despite the victory to Max Verstappen

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

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

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

At the start, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

But after an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the turn

That allowed Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris lost the runner-up spot to Russell

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

Russell made an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver stopped five laps following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen 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 George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his race engineer how to run the remainder of his race, effectively asking whether he should accept second or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was readily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the gap extended significantly as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he requires issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to maximise all we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

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

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

The Australian finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on the durable compound after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing race from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of things to favor me now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car lacking the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his heroic showing to qualify third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

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