Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Vegas Grand Prix Win

McLaren's Lando Norris moved closer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will secure the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It remains a good result to secure second. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

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

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the title losing the victory to Verstappen

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

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

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

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But following an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

This allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris lost second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

George Russell made an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

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

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined after Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34

The British driver inquired his engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, essentially asking whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily could defend against Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended substantially as the McLaren started to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was could hold off Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - just one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to pass him

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

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a frustrating race from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to favor me at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

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