Norris Edges Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Claims Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

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

The Australian driver, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

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

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

• Lando Norris continued his momentum towards the championship despite the victory to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's difficult performance streak continued as his championship chances wane

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th after 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 defend his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

But following an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner

That allowed Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris lost second place to Russell

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

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

The McLaren driver pitted five laps after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was able to return still in the lead, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, quickly closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his engineer how to run the rest of his race, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Even with dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one less than both McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, although he requires issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've got," Max Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but lost two places on the opening lap following being hit by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a damaged front wing

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a frustrating race from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot 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 circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, after his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet

Hadjar secured eighth ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and continued 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 point following the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life