Lando Norris Advances Nearer to Title as Verstappen Takes Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden championship with second place in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will win the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the last event of the championship follows 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 title losing the win to Verstappen

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

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

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

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

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

That enabled Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver lost second place to Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits after the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

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

Lando Norris rejoined after George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to settle, quickly closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, essentially asking whether he should accept second or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the margin extended substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - just one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he requires problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

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

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a damaged front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on the durable compound following pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

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

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require several of factors 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"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams lacking the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to start third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a point after the poorest qualifying performance of his career