Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Verstappen Claims Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden world title with second place in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

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

The Briton will secure the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Max had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the last event of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship losing the victory to Max Verstappen

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

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for tenth place following beginning at the rear

At the start, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But following an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the corner

This allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver also 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 Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

The McLaren driver stopped five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was could return still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, quickly reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

Norris inquired his race engineer how to run the rest of his event, effectively asking whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was told to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - just one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

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

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri began fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on the durable compound after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a disappointing race from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

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

Isack Hadjar took eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to salvage a championship point following the worst qualifying session of his career