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

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to his first championship with second place in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

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

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that first turn," stated Norris

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

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

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's difficult performance streak continued as his championship chances diminish

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th following beginning at the rear

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

However following an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner

That enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

Russell made an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Norris returned behind Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tyres to settle, soon reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his engineer how to manage the rest of his race, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was readily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - only one behind both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he requires problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've have," Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the opening lap following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a broken nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a disappointing event from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Just attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to go my way now to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, after his heroic showing to start third in the wet

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

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

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point following the worst qualifying performance of his career