Norris Edges Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Takes Vegas Grand Prix Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will secure the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

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

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

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's difficult performance streak continued as his title hopes diminish

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

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

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

However following an forceful move in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

That allowed Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

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

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

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

Norris asked his engineer how to manage the rest of his event, essentially questioning whether he should accept second or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

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

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've have," Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam 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

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on the durable compound after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a disappointing event from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of factors to go my way now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

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

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point after the poorest qualifying session of his career