Norris Advances Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Takes Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden championship with second place in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will claim 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 first half of the season, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second. 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 high-profile races were:

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

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

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

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

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But after an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the turn

That allowed Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris also the runner-up spot to Russell

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

George Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

Norris stopped five circuits after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

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

Lando Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, effectively asking whether he should settle for second or attack

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

Despite losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - just one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he needs problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to optimize everything we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a broken nose section

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on the durable compound following stopping during the initial VSC, 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 disappointing race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Just attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of factors to go my way now to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his heroic showing to qualify third in the wet weather

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

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

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to use his electric start to rescue a championship point following the poorest qualifying performance of his career