Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Takes Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will win the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It remains a good result to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

Following Qatar, the final race of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his championship chances diminish

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place after starting at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

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

This allowed Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

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

Norris pitted five laps after the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned after George Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tires to settle, quickly closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

The British driver asked his engineer how to manage the rest of his event, essentially asking whether he should settle for second or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren started to experience a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Despite dropping almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - only one behind both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to optimize everything we've have," 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 know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a damaged front wing

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

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating race from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require several of things to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his heroic showing to start in third in the wet weather

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

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

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a point following the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life