Norris Moves Closer to Title as Verstappen Claims Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

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

Norris 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

The Briton will win the championship in the desert 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 opening stages of the season, has not finished on the top three for six races

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

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to praise Max and his team"

After Qatar, the final race of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

The main developments of one of Formula 1's most high-profile races were:

• Lando Norris continued his progress towards the title losing the win to Verstappen

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

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

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

From the beginning, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from starting first from Verstappen

However following an forceful move in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the corner

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

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

The McLaren driver stopped five laps after the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, effectively questioning whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily able to repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined

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

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - just one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

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

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit following being clouted by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on hard tyres after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing race from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Simply try to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to favor me now to win, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car missing the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, after his impressive showing to start third in the wet

Isack Hadjar secured eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to use his electric start to salvage a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his career