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

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

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will win the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

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

"It remains a positive outcome to get second. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

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

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the championship despite the victory to Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult run of form persisted as his title hopes diminish

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th after starting at the back

At the start, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

However after an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the turn

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

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

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

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits after the Mercedes 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 despite his fresher tyres

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

The British driver asked his race engineer how to manage the rest of his race, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily able to defend against Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren started to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to optimize all we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

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

The Australian finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing event from essentially start to finish in some ways," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to go my way now to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry, after his impressive showing to qualify in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could employ his electric start to salvage a point following the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life