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

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will win the title in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over 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

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

"It's still a good result to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

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

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

• Lando Norris continued his progress towards the title losing the victory to Verstappen

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

• A superb win for Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

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

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

However following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

That enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

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

Norris stopped five circuits after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was able to return still in the first place, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to warm up, soon reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to manage the rest of his race, essentially asking whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily could defend against Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was could defend against Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - just one behind the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he needs issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to maximise everything we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri began fifth but lost two positions 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 Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating race from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to win, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his impressive showing to qualify in third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life