Lando Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Vegas Grand Prix Victory

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

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will secure the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for tenth place after beginning at the rear

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from pole position from Verstappen

But following an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the corner

That allowed Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris also the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

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

The McLaren driver stopped five laps following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, soon reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to run the remainder of his race, essentially asking whether he should accept second or attack

He was told to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Even with losing almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could defend against Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - just one behind both McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs issues for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've got," Max Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began in 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 broken front wing

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a frustrating event from essentially start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Just attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need several of things to go my way at this stage to win, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, after his heroic showing to qualify in third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point after the poorest qualifying session of his racing life