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

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will secure the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Max had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to praise Max and his team"

After Qatar, the last event of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Norris continued his momentum towards the championship despite the win to Max Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th following starting at the rear

At the start, 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 starting first from Max Verstappen

However after an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

That enabled Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris also the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

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

The McLaren driver pitted five laps after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his engineer how to run the rest of his event, essentially questioning whether he should accept second or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was readily could defend against Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren started to experience a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Even with losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - just one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at least theoretically, although he requires problems for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've have," Verstappen stated

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

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but lost two places on the opening lap following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a damaged nose section

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on the durable compound after pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

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

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his heroic performance to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion made a flying start, rising to 13th on the first lap and continued to move forwards

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