Lando Norris Edges Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Takes Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first championship with second place in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will win the championship 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 impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to praise 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:

• Norris maintained his momentum towards the title despite the victory to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his title hopes wane

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th after beginning at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

But following an forceful move in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

This enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris lost second place to Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

George Russell made an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

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

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tires to settle, quickly closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his engineer how to manage the rest of his event, essentially asking whether he should settle for second or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the margin increased significantly as the McLaren started to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at least mathematically, even if he needs problems for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to maximise everything we've have," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the race and at the end 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 dropped two positions on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken nose section

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on the durable compound after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a disappointing event from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to favor me now to win, but my only option is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car lacking the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry, after his impressive showing to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion made a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was could employ his electric start to rescue a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his racing life