Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Claims 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 the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will secure the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

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

"It's still a good result to get second place. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

Following Qatar, the final race of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Norris maintained his progress towards the title losing the victory to Max Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging performance streak continued as his championship chances diminish

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

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

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

But following an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the corner

That allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

George Russell made an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver pitted five laps following the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned after George Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver asked his engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, essentially asking whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could defend against Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased substantially as the McLaren car began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Even with losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could hold off Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - just one less than both McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at least theoretically, although he needs issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to optimize everything we've got," Verstappen stated

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

Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the first circuit following being hit by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged front wing

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on hard tyres following pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

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

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Simply attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly 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 take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his impressive showing to qualify in third in the wet

Isack Hadjar secured eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a flying start, up to 13th on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could employ his electric start to salvage a championship point after the worst qualifying session of his racing life