Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden championship with second place in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

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

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

Following 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 high-profile races were:

• Lando Norris continued his momentum towards the title losing the victory to Max Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place following starting at the rear

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

But following an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner

That enabled Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

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

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

Lando Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, soon closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his race engineer how to run the remainder of his event, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended substantially as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've got," Max Verstappen stated

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

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

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

Piastri ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a disappointing race from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require several of things 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 hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, following his heroic performance to qualify in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to salvage a point following the worst qualifying performance of his career