Norris Edges Closer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Vegas Grand Prix Victory

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

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will claim the championship in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

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

"Max had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

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

After Qatar, the final race of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the title losing the win to Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging performance streak continued as his title hopes diminish

• A superb victory for Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place after starting at the back

At the start, Lando Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

However following an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner

That enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver also second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

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

The McLaren driver pitted five laps following the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

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

Norris returned behind Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily could defend against Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap increased significantly as the McLaren started to suffer a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Even with losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he requires problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to maximise all we've got," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit following being hit by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a broken front wing

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on the durable compound after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating race from essentially start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to favor me at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his heroic showing to start in third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar took eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, up to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was could employ his strong beginning to salvage a point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life