Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to his first world title with second place in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will claim the title in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the top three 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 place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

Following Qatar, the last event of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

The main developments of one of Formula 1's most prestigious races were:

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

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

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place following beginning at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

However following an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

That enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

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

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

Norris pitted five laps following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

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

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

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily could defend against Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the gap increased substantially as the McLaren started to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - just one behind the two McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, although he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've got," Max Verstappen said

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

Oscar Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a damaged front wing

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran 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 violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing race from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Just attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require several of things to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car lacking the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his heroic performance to start third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could use his electric start to salvage a point after the worst qualifying performance of his career