Norris Advances Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Takes Vegas Grand Prix Victory

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

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to 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

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

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

After Qatar, the final race of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

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

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

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

From the beginning, Lando Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

However after an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

That enabled Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

Russell made an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits following the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tires to warm up, quickly reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could defend against Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Despite dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was could hold off Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - just one behind both McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, even if he needs problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise everything we've got," Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a damaged nose section

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres after pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing event from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Just try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to go my way now to take the title, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive showing to qualify in third in the wet

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

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

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life