Norris Edges Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Takes Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will claim the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

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

Following Qatar, the last event of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his title hopes diminish

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place following starting at the rear

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

But following an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the turn

That enabled Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

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

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

Norris returned after Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to warm up, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver asked his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, essentially asking whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap extended significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could hold off Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - only one less than both McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, although he requires problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

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

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a damaged front wing

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

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

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, after his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet

Hadjar took eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

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

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life