Norris Edges Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will secure the title in the Qatar as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

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

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

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

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's difficult run of form persisted as his title hopes wane

• A excellent win for Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th following starting at the back

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

But after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

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

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

George Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen remained on track

Norris stopped five circuits after the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was able to return still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Norris returned 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 gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, essentially questioning whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could defend against Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren began to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, although he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

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

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a damaged front wing

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

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

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of things to go my way now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his heroic performance to start third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar took eighth place before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was could use his strong beginning to salvage a point after the worst qualifying performance of his racing life