Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Takes Vegas Grand Prix Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 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 over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six races

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

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

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

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

• Lando Norris continued his momentum towards the title losing the victory to Verstappen

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

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place following starting at the back

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from pole position from Verstappen

But after an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

This allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver also the runner-up spot to George Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

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

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

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

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily could defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren car began to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could hold off Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

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

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a damaged front wing

He followed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of 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 violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a frustrating race from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require several of things to go my way now to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to start third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and continued 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 salvage a championship point following the poorest qualifying performance of his career