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

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will win the title in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the season, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It's still a good result to secure second. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

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

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

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the championship losing the win to Max Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's difficult performance streak persisted as his championship chances wane

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place following beginning at the rear

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

However following an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's attack on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

That enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

George Russell undertook an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver stopped five circuits after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tires to warm up, quickly closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by 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 accept second or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily could defend against Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the margin extended substantially as the McLaren car started to experience a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Even with losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he requires problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

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

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri began fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap following being clouted by Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a broken nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on the durable compound following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

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

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Just try to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to win, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his impressive performance to qualify third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, up to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could employ his electric start to rescue a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his career