Lando Norris Advances Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden world title with second place in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will claim the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose over 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 consecutive events

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

"It remains a good result to get second. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

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

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

• Norris maintained his progress towards the title losing the victory to Verstappen

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

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

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

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

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

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

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

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

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined after George Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris asked his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, effectively asking whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could defend against Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin increased substantially as the McLaren began to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to hold off 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 the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, even if he requires problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to optimize everything 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 know where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a broken nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

The Australian finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound following stopping 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 replays

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

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Simply attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive performance to qualify third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, up to 13th on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

He got stuck in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was able to employ his strong beginning to salvage a championship point after the poorest qualifying session of his racing life