Norris Moves Closer to Title as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

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

Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will claim the title 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 season, has not finished on the podium for six races

"Max 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 congratulate Verstappen and Red Bull"

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

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

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

• Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his title hopes wane

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place following starting at the rear

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

But following an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

This allowed Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris lost second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

Russell made an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

Norris pitted five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

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

Lando Norris returned after George Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his engineer how to run the rest of his race, effectively asking whether he should settle for second or attack

He was told to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the margin increased substantially as the McLaren began to experience a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least mathematically, although he needs issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to maximise everything we've got," Verstappen said

"During the coming events 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"

Piastri began in fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit following being hit by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a disappointing event from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require several of things to favor me at this stage 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 gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his heroic performance to qualify in third in the wet

Isack Hadjar secured eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, rising 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 could use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point after the worst qualifying session of his career