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

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris 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

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

"It's still a good result to get second. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the last event of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th following starting at the back

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

But following an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inside, Norris miscalculated 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

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

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

Norris rejoined after George Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to settle, soon closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris inquired his engineer how to run the rest of his race, essentially asking whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily could defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap extended significantly as the McLaren began to experience a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Despite 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 Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

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

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

Piastri began fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged nose section

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

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

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

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require several of factors to favor me at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic performance to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion made a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was could employ his electric start to rescue a point following the worst qualifying session of his career