Lando Norris Advances Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will secure the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

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

"Max had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

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

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

The main developments of among Formula 1's most high-profile races were:

• Norris continued his progress towards the title losing the win to Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place after starting at the rear

From the beginning, 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 starting first from Verstappen

But after an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

This enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris also the runner-up spot to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver stopped five laps after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

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

Lando Norris returned behind Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

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

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily could defend against Lando's 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 dropping almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could hold off Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - just one less than 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 the final two events to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to optimize all we've have," Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a damaged front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

Piastri finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing event from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Just try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his heroic performance to qualify in third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar secured eighth ahead of 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 DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to use his electric start to salvage a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his career