Lando Norris Edges Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Vegas Grand Prix Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden world title with second place in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will claim the championship in the desert 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 failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It's still a good result to get second. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But after an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

That enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris also second place to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

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

Verstappen was could return still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to close in 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 tyres to warm up, soon reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

Norris asked his engineer how to manage the rest of his event, effectively questioning whether he should accept second or attack

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin increased significantly as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

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

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one behind the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, although he requires problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise everything we've got," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit after being hit by Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a damaged front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a frustrating event from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Just attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to favor me now to win, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams lacking the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic showing to qualify in third in the wet

Hadjar secured eighth place ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

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

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life