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

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

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the season, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

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

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

The main developments of among Formula 1's most prestigious races were:

• Norris continued his momentum towards the championship losing the victory to Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult performance streak continued as his championship chances diminish

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

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

From the beginning, Lando Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

However following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

This enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris also the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

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

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

Verstappen was could return still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34

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

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the margin extended substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could hold off Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one less than both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he requires issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri started fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged nose section

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

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

"It proved to be a disappointing event from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require several of things to favor me at this stage to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his impressive performance to qualify in third in the wet

Isack Hadjar secured eighth ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a flying start, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a point after the poorest qualifying performance of his career