Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Claims Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first championship 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 penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will win the title in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

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

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

"It remains a good result to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

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 prestigious races included:

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

• Piastri's difficult performance streak continued as his title hopes wane

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place after starting at the rear

At the start, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

However following an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

This allowed Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver lost second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

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

Norris pitted five laps after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the first place, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Norris returned behind Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, soon reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes 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 or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the margin increased significantly as the McLaren started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

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

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - just one behind both McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise everything we've got," Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the race 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 lost two places on the opening lap after being hit by Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a damaged nose section

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

Piastri ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on hard tyres after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

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

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need several of factors to favor me at this stage to win, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, after his impressive showing to start third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth place ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, up to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped 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 worst qualifying session of his racing life