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

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

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris 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

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six races

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

"It remains a good result to get second. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

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

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

• Norris continued his momentum towards the championship losing the win to Verstappen

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

• A superb victory for Max Verstappen to keep him in the championship battle

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place after beginning at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

But following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

That enabled Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris also the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

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

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was able to return still in the lead, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to warm up, soon closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended significantly as the McLaren started to experience a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could defend against Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at least theoretically, although he requires issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to optimize all we've got," 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 began in fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a broken nose section

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on the durable compound after stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a frustrating event from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just try to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive performance to qualify in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, up to 13th on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

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