Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Vegas Grand Prix Win

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

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

Norris will win the championship in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the season, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

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

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

Following Qatar, the last event of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the championship despite the victory to Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his championship chances wane

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

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

From the beginning, Lando Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his lead from pole position from Verstappen

But after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

That allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver also second place to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

Norris pitted five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

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

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, effectively asking whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was readily able to defend against Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

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

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - just one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to optimize everything we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri began in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a broken nose section

He trailed Lawson's team-mate 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 repass during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on the durable compound following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating race from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to favor me at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet weather

Hadjar secured eighth place ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could use his electric start to salvage a championship point following the worst qualifying session of his career