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

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

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up 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 win the title in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

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

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

Following Qatar, the last event of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Norris continued his momentum towards the title despite the win to Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging run of form continued as his championship chances diminish

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th after beginning at the rear

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

However following an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

This enabled Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver also the runner-up spot to Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

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

Norris stopped five circuits following the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

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

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren car started to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could defend against Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - just one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he requires issues for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to maximise everything we've have," Max Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri began fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention 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 Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating event from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly need several of things to favor me now to win, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, after his heroic performance to qualify in third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar secured eighth place ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the first lap and continued to move forwards

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