Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Claims Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will claim the title in the Qatar 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 season, has not finished on the podium for six races

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

"It remains a good result to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

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

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

• Lando Norris continued his progress towards the title despite the victory to Max Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place after starting at the back

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

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

This enabled 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 collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

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

Norris stopped five circuits after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined after Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to settle, quickly closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver inquired his engineer how to run the rest of his race, effectively asking whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased significantly as the McLaren began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Even with losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one behind both McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've got," Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being hit by Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a broken front wing

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on the durable compound following stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a frustrating race from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of factors to go my way now to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his impressive showing to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was able to use his electric start to salvage a point after the poorest qualifying session of his career