Lando Norris Edges Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Claims Vegas Grand Prix Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

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

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the season, has not finished on the podium for six races

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

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

Following Qatar, the final race 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 continued his progress towards the championship losing the victory to Max Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's difficult performance streak persisted as his title hopes wane

• A superb win for Verstappen to keep him in the championship battle

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place after starting at the back

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

But after an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver lost second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

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

The McLaren driver pitted five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

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

Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to settle, quickly reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on lap 34

Norris inquired his race engineer how to run the remainder of his race, effectively asking whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car began to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but lost two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a broken front wing

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

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

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Just try to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly require several of factors to favor me now to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive showing to start in third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar secured eighth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could use his electric start to rescue a championship point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life