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

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden championship with second place in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will claim the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

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

"Max had a good race. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

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

The main developments of among Formula 1's most high-profile races included:

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the championship losing the win to Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his title hopes diminish

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

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

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

However following an forceful move in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the turn

That allowed Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris lost second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver pitted 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 even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

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

He was told to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he requires problems for Norris in the final two events to pass him

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

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but lost two places on the first circuit after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a damaged nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously require several of things to favor me now to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, after his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was could use his electric start to rescue a championship point following the worst qualifying performance of his racing life