Norris Edges Closer to Title as Verstappen Claims Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

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

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will claim the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

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

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

• Norris maintained his progress towards the title losing the win to Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging performance streak continued as his title hopes diminish

• A superb win for Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th following starting at the back

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

However following an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

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

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

Norris pitted five laps after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, soon closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to run the remainder of his event, essentially questioning whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could repel Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - only one less than both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at least mathematically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

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

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri began in fifth but lost two places on the opening lap following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a damaged nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

Piastri finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on the durable compound after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating event from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously require several of factors to favor me at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, after his impressive performance to qualify in third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, up to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was could employ his electric start to rescue a point following the worst qualifying performance of his career