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

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will win the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

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

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that first turn," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

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

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

• Norris maintained his momentum towards the title despite the win to Verstappen

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

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

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

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

But after an forceful move in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This allowed Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris also the runner-up spot to Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

Russell made an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

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

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tires to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

Norris asked his race engineer how to manage the rest of his event, effectively questioning whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - just one behind both McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he requires issues for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise everything we've got," Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a damaged front wing

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

Piastri ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on the durable compound following stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

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

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of things to go my way now to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, after his impressive showing to qualify in third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, up to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded 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 championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his racing life