Lando Norris Edges Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Vegas Grand Prix Win

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

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

The Briton will secure the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the podium for six races

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake 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 congratulate Verstappen and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the final race of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

The main developments of among Formula 1's most prestigious races included:

• Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship losing the win to Max Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his championship chances wane

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th following starting at the rear

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

But after 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 point and ran deep into the corner

This enabled Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris also second place to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

Russell made an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

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

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Norris returned after George Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, soon closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his engineer how to run the remainder of his race, effectively asking whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind both McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, even if he needs problems 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," Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri started in fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a broken nose section

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating race from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need several of factors to go my way now to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, rising to 13th on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a point after the worst qualifying performance of his career