Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Takes Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden championship with second place in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

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

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

"Max had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to praise Max and his team"

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

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

• Norris maintained 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 maintain him in the championship battle

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

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

However following an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the corner

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

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

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

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

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Norris rejoined after Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34

Norris asked his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, effectively asking whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily could defend against Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than both McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at least theoretically, even if he needs issues for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends 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"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken nose section

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating event from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Simply try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need several of factors 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"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, up to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

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