Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Vegas Grand Prix Victory

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

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

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

Following Qatar, the final race of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for tenth place after starting at the rear

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

However after an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

This allowed Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris also the runner-up spot to Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

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

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

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined after George Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, effectively questioning 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. Max Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the gap extended substantially as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Even with dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least mathematically, although he requires issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've have," Verstappen stated

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

Piastri started in fifth but lost two places on the opening lap following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a broken front wing

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

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating event from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive showing to qualify in third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was could use his strong beginning to salvage a point after the poorest qualifying session of his career