Lando Norris Advances Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Vegas Grand Prix Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to his first championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will win the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 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

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

Following Qatar, the last event of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship despite the win to Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging performance streak continued as his title hopes diminish

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

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

From the beginning, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

However after an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

That allowed Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris also second place to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

Norris pitted five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris returned behind Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, effectively asking whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was told to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the margin extended substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with losing nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at least theoretically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

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

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri began in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a damaged front wing

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

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

"It was a disappointing event from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly need several of factors to favor me at this stage to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams lacking the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his impressive showing to start in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was able to use his electric start to salvage a point after the worst qualifying session of his career