Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Verstappen Claims Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first championship with second place in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim the title in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

Following Qatar, the final race of the championship takes place 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 despite the win to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult run of form continued as his championship chances wane

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place after beginning 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 pole position from Verstappen

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

This enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris lost second place to Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

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

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his race engineer how to manage the rest of his race, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car began to suffer a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Despite losing nearly three seconds a circuit, 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 victory of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he requires issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

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

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating event from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his impressive showing to qualify in third in the wet

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

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

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a championship point after the poorest qualifying performance of his career