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

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will claim 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 opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

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

Following Qatar, the last event of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Lando Norris continued his progress towards the championship losing the victory to Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th following beginning at the back

At the start, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from pole position from Verstappen

However after an forceful move in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

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

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

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

Verstappen was could return 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 George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

Norris inquired his engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, essentially asking whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Even with dropping almost three seconds a lap, Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he requires issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

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

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a damaged nose section

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

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres following pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing event from essentially start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams lacking the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet

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

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

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was able to use his electric start to rescue a point after the poorest qualifying session of his racing life