Norris Advances Closer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Vegas Grand Prix Victory

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

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

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

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

After Qatar, the last event of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the title losing the win to Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult run of form continued as his championship chances diminish

• A superb victory for Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

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

From the beginning, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from pole position from Verstappen

But after an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the corner

That enabled Verstappen to overtake 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 beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

The McLaren driver stopped five circuits following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Norris returned behind Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, essentially questioning whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily could defend against Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased substantially as the McLaren began to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - just one behind the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he needs problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

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

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri began in fifth but lost two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on hard tyres after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

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

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to win, but my only option is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his impressive performance to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, rising to 13th on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to use his electric start to rescue a point following the worst qualifying session of his career