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

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

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

Norris will win the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake early on 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 Red Bull"

Following Qatar, the final race of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the title losing the victory to Max Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place after starting at the back

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

That enabled Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris also second place to George Russell

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

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

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

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

Norris rejoined after George Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to warm up, soon reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

The British driver inquired his engineer how to manage the rest of his race, effectively asking whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the margin extended substantially as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with losing nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could defend against Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he requires issues for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

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

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri started fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a broken nose section

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

Piastri finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on the durable compound following stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a disappointing event from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Just attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require several of factors to go my way now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams lacking the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his impressive performance to qualify in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life