Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Verstappen Secures Vegas Grand Prix Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six races

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

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

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

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

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the title losing the win to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's difficult run of form persisted as his championship chances diminish

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for tenth place after starting at the back

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

However after an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the corner

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

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

Russell made an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

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

Verstappen was could return still in the lead, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tyres to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his engineer how to manage the rest of his event, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren car began to experience a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

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

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at least mathematically, even if he needs 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 said

"During the coming events we will try to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri started in fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly 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 also out to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Just try to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his impressive showing to qualify third in the wet

Isack Hadjar took eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

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

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to use his strong beginning to salvage a championship point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life