Lando Norris Moves Closer to Title as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

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

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will win the title in the desert 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 championship, has not finished on the podium for six races

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

Following Qatar, the final race of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Lando Norris continued his momentum towards the title despite the win to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his title hopes wane

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th after beginning at the back

At the start, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from pole position 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 ran deep into the corner

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

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

Russell undertook an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

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

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, soon reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

Norris inquired his engineer how to run the rest of his event, effectively asking whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the gap increased significantly as the McLaren started to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined

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

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one less than both McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he requires problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to maximise everything we've have," Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a damaged front wing

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a frustrating event from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Simply try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to favor me now to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car lacking the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, after his impressive performance to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to employ his electric start to rescue a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his career