Lando Norris Edges Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Takes Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

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

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will claim the championship in the Qatar as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

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

Following Qatar, the final race of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the championship despite the victory to Max Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his championship chances wane

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

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

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

However after an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver also second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

George Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

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

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Norris returned behind Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tires to settle, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, effectively asking whether he should accept second place or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, although he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to optimize everything we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri started fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a broken nose section

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

The Australian ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

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

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position 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 best position to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his heroic performance to qualify in third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, up to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was able to employ his electric start to salvage a point following the worst qualifying performance of his racing life