Lando Norris Edges Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will claim the title in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the season, has not finished on the top three for six races

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

"It remains a good result to secure second place. I've got to praise Max and his team"

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

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship despite the victory to Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place after starting 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 Max Verstappen

But after an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the turn

This enabled Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

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

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

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris inquired his engineer how to run the rest of his event, essentially questioning whether he should accept second or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily could defend against Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended substantially as the McLaren began to experience a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Despite losing almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind both McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, even if he needs problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise everything we've have," Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

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

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require several of factors to favor me at this stage to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams missing the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his impressive performance to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, up to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was could employ his strong beginning to salvage a point following the worst qualifying performance of his career