Lando Norris Advances Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Takes Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden world title with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will secure the championship in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a strong performance. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

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

Following Qatar, the final race of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Lando Norris continued his momentum towards the championship losing the win to Verstappen

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

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

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

At the start, Lando Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

However following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

This allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver also the runner-up spot to Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

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

Norris pitted five laps following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined after Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to run the remainder of his race, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily could defend against Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the margin increased substantially as the McLaren began to experience a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with losing almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - only one behind the two McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to maximise everything we've have," Max Verstappen said

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

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on hard tyres after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing race from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his heroic showing to start third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar secured eighth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a flying start, up to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was could employ his strong beginning to rescue a championship point following the worst qualifying session of his career