Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Takes Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

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

Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will claim the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

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

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to praise 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 high-profile races were:

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

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place following starting at the back

At the start, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But following an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner

That allowed Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris also second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

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

Norris stopped five laps after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to settle, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his engineer how to manage the rest of his race, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily able to repel Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased significantly as the McLaren started to experience a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

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

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one less than the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he requires problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

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

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

The Australian finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on the durable compound after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating event from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to favor me now to take the title, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic performance to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was could employ his electric start to rescue a point after the poorest qualifying session of his racing life