Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Vegas Grand Prix Victory

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

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will win the championship in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the season, has not finished on the top three for six races

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

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

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

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

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

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

• A superb victory for Max Verstappen to keep him in the championship battle

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place after beginning at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

However after an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the turn

That allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris lost the runner-up spot to Russell

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

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

Norris stopped five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined after Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to warm up, soon reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second or attack

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren started to experience a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least mathematically, although he needs issues for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've got," Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged front wing

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a frustrating event from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require several of factors to favor me at this stage to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, after his impressive performance to start in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner made 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 additional vehicles but was could employ his electric start to rescue a championship point after the poorest qualifying performance of his career