Lando Norris Edges Closer to Title as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

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

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

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

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

"It remains a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and Red Bull"

Following Qatar, the last event of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the title despite the win to Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging run of form continued as his title hopes diminish

• A superb victory for Verstappen to maintain him in the championship battle

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place following beginning at the back

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

But following an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

That enabled Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris also second place to George 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 stamped his authority on the race

George Russell made an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver pitted five laps following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was could return still in the lead, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Norris rejoined after Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tires to warm up, soon closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34

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

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily could defend against Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the margin extended substantially as the McLaren car began to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Despite losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - only one behind both McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise everything we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

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

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on hard tyres after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a frustrating event from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need quite a lot 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 something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry, after his heroic showing to qualify third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and continued 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 point after the poorest qualifying session of his racing life