Lando Norris Edges Nearer to Title as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim the title 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 impressive in the first half of the season, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

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

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship losing the win to Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult performance streak persisted as his title hopes wane

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

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

At the start, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

However after an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris lost second place to George Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

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

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

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

Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34

Norris asked his engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, effectively asking whether he should settle for second or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the margin extended substantially as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Even with dropping almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at least mathematically, although he requires problems 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

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating event from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth place ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a flying start, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was could employ his electric start to salvage a championship point after the poorest qualifying session of his racing life