Norris Advances Closer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Vegas Grand Prix Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden championship with second place in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will secure the championship in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half 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 overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

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

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

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

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

• Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his championship chances wane

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place following beginning at the rear

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from pole position from Verstappen

But after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the corner

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

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

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

The McLaren driver stopped five laps following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was able to return still in the first place, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his race engineer how to manage the rest of his race, essentially asking whether he should accept second or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the margin increased substantially as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Even with losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could defend against Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he needs issues for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise 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 see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

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

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to 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 following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a disappointing event from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Simply attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need several of things to go my way now to win, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his impressive showing to start third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

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

He got stuck in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was able to use his electric start to salvage a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his career