Lando Norris Moves Closer to Title as Verstappen Claims Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden world title 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 behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will claim the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

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

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

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

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place following beginning at the back

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

But following an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This allowed Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris lost the runner-up spot to Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

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

The McLaren driver pitted five laps following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

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

Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris inquired his engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, effectively asking whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the margin extended substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Even with losing almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - just one behind both McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he requires 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," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri began fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken nose section

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on the durable compound following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a frustrating race from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Simply attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his heroic showing to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

He got stuck in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was able to employ his electric start to rescue a point following the poorest qualifying performance of his career