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

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden championship with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

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

Norris will secure the title in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Max had a good race. I erred early on and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a good result to get second place. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

Following 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 were:

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

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

• A excellent win for Max Verstappen to keep him in the championship battle

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for tenth place following starting at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

But following an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

This allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver also second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen remained on track

Norris stopped five circuits following the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

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

Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres 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 engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, effectively questioning whether he should accept second place or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased significantly as the McLaren started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Even with losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

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

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've have," Max Verstappen said

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

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but lost two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a damaged nose section

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a disappointing race from essentially start to finish in some ways," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Just attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive performance to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a point following the poorest qualifying session of his racing life