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

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

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming 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 strong in the opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

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

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

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

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

• Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship losing the victory to Verstappen

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

• A superb win for Max Verstappen to maintain him in the championship battle

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

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from starting first from Verstappen

However following an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

This allowed Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

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

Norris stopped five circuits after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34

Norris inquired his engineer how to run the rest of his event, effectively asking whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap extended significantly as the McLaren started to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Despite losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could defend against Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - just one less than both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at least mathematically, even if he needs problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've have," Verstappen stated

"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 very proud of the entire team"

Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the opening lap following being hit 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 first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on the durable compound after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Simply try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need several of things to go my way now to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive showing to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was able to employ his electric start to rescue a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his career