Norris Edges Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Vegas Grand Prix Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first 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 in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim the title in the desert as long as he does not lose 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 failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a strong performance. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to get second place. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

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

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

• Lando Norris continued his momentum towards the title losing the victory to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult run of form persisted as his title hopes diminish

• A excellent victory for Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

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

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 lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

But following an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner

That allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver also second place to Russell

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

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver stopped five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to settle, quickly closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his engineer how to run the remainder of his race, essentially asking whether he should settle for second or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily could defend against Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - only one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he needs problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to maximise everything we've got," Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri began in 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 followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on hard tyres after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating race from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Simply attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require several of factors to favor me now to win, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his impressive performance to start third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar secured eighth place before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was could use his electric start to salvage a championship point following the worst qualifying performance of his career