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

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to his first championship with second place in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will secure 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 impressive in the first half of the championship, has not finished 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 opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to get second. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

Following Qatar, the last event 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 maintained his progress towards the championship losing the win to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult run of form persisted as his title hopes wane

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th following starting at the back

At the start, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from pole position from Verstappen

However after an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the corner

This allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver also second place to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

Norris pitted five laps after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris inquired his engineer how to run the rest of his race, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

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 closing stages the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Even with dropping almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - just one behind both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

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

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged nose section

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on the durable compound after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing race from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need several of factors to go my way now to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his heroic showing to qualify third in the wet weather

Hadjar secured eighth place before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a flying start, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was could use his electric start to salvage a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his racing life