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

McLaren's Lando Norris moved closer to his first world title with second place 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 Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

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

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

"Max had a strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

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

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

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the title losing the victory to Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging run of form continued as his championship chances wane

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th following starting at the back

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

But after an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

This enabled Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris also second place to George Russell

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

George Russell made an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

Norris stopped five laps after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen ten laps later

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

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tires to warm up, soon reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

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

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily able to defend against Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren began to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - just one behind both McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he requires problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've have," Verstappen said

"During the coming events 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 everyone"

Piastri began in fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap following being clouted by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a damaged front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a disappointing race from essentially start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to favor me now to win, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams car lacking the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his impressive showing to start in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was could use his electric start to salvage a point following the worst qualifying session of his career