Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Verstappen Takes Vegas Grand Prix Win

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

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming 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 seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to praise Verstappen and Red Bull"

Following Qatar, the final race of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

The main developments of among Formula 1's most high-profile races included:

• Lando Norris continued his progress towards the championship despite the win to Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult performance streak persisted as his title hopes diminish

• A excellent win for Max Verstappen to keep him in the championship battle

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th after starting at the rear

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from pole position from Verstappen

But after an forceful move in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the corner

This enabled Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

George Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

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

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, soon closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, effectively questioning whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap increased significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - just one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at least mathematically, even if he requires issues for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise everything we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri began in fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being hit by Lawson, who was soon eliminated 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 Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

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

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

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car missing the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his impressive performance to start in third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar secured eighth place before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to employ his electric start to salvage a championship point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life