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

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

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

Norris will win the title in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

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

Following Qatar, the last event of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's difficult run of form continued as his title hopes diminish

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th after beginning at the back

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

However following an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver lost second place to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

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

Norris pitted five laps after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned after George Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tires to settle, quickly closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34

Norris asked his race engineer how to manage 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. Max Verstappen was easily could defend against Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended significantly as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

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

"During the coming events we will try 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"

Piastri began in fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a broken nose section

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

Piastri finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on the durable compound following stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

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

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Just try to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly 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 ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his heroic performance to qualify in third in the wet

Hadjar took eighth place ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

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

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