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

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

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will win the championship in the Qatar 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 season, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th after starting at the back

At the start, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

However after an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

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

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver stopped five circuits after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the lead, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Norris returned after Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tires to warm up, soon reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

The British driver inquired his engineer how to run the remainder of his event, effectively asking whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap extended significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - just one behind the two McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he needs issues for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've have," Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri started in fifth but lost two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a broken nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require several of things to go my way now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, after his heroic showing to start third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a flying start, up to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a point following the poorest qualifying session of his racing life