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

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden world title with second place in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will secure the title in the desert as long as he does not lose more than 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 races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

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

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the title losing the victory to Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult run of form persisted as his championship chances diminish

• A excellent win for Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th following beginning at the back

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

However following an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris also second place to Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

Norris pitted five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, quickly closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

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

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended significantly as the McLaren began to experience a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at least mathematically, although he requires issues for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've have," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

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

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams missing the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, after his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet

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

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

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was able to employ his strong beginning to salvage a point after the worst qualifying session of his racing life