Lando Norris Advances Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Claims Vegas Grand Prix Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to secure second place. I've got to praise Max and his team"

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

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

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

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

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th after starting at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from starting first from Verstappen

But after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the turn

That allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris also second place to Russell

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

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

The McLaren driver pitted five laps following the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Norris returned after Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34

Norris inquired his race engineer how to run the remainder of his race, effectively questioning whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he requires issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've got," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri started fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap following being hit by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a broken nose section

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

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing event from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Just try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require several of things to favor me at this stage to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

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

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

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was able to employ his electric start to rescue a championship point following the worst qualifying performance of his racing life