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

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will claim the championship in the desert 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 not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It remains a good result to get second. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

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

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the title losing the win to Max Verstappen

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

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

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

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

However after an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the corner

This enabled Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver also the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

Russell made an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver stopped 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 car despite his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

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

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap extended significantly as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Even with dropping almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at least theoretically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to maximise all we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

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

He followed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Just attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require several of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group 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 racing life