Norris Advances Closer to Title as Verstappen Claims Vegas Grand Prix Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will claim the championship in the desert 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 opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

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

"It's still a good result to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

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

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the title losing the victory to Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his championship chances diminish

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th after starting at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from pole position from Verstappen

However after an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

That enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris also the runner-up spot to George Russell

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver pitted five laps after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned behind Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, quickly closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

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

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the margin extended significantly as the McLaren started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Even with dropping almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - only one less than both McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at least theoretically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've have," Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, 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 taken out of the battle by a damaged nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on the durable compound after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

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

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to favor me now to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from 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 impressive showing to start in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to use his electric start to salvage a championship point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life