Lando Norris Moves Closer to Title as Verstappen Takes Vegas Grand Prix Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will win the championship in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Max had a good race. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

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

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

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

• Norris continued his momentum towards the championship despite the win to Max Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his championship chances diminish

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place following beginning at the back

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

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

That enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver also the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

George Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on lap 34

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

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap increased significantly as the McLaren car started to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Even with losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could hold off Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've got," Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken nose section

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of factors to favor me now to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

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

Hadjar took eighth ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a flying start, up to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was could employ his strong beginning to salvage a point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life