Lando Norris Edges Closer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Vegas Grand Prix Win

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

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

"It's still a good result to get second. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

After Qatar, the last event of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Lando Norris continued his progress towards the title despite the victory to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's difficult performance streak persisted as his title hopes diminish

• A superb win for Max Verstappen to maintain him in the championship battle

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

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

But following an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the corner

That enabled Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver lost second place to George Russell

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

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

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

Verstappen was able to return still in the first place, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the margin extended substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - only one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at least mathematically, although he requires issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've have," Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

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

The Australian ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on the durable compound after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a disappointing event from essentially start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require several of factors to go my way at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, following his impressive performance to qualify in third in the wet

Isack Hadjar took eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, up to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to use his electric start to salvage a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his racing life