Norris Advances Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer 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 after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last 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 seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Max had a good race. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a good result to secure second. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

Following Qatar, the final race of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Norris maintained his progress towards the title despite the win to Max Verstappen

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

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place following beginning at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

However following an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

This allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver lost second place to George Russell

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

Russell made an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

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

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to settle, soon closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris asked his engineer how to manage the rest of his race, essentially asking whether he should accept second or attack

He was told to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could 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 not been defined

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - just one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at least theoretically, even if he needs issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

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

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a disappointing event from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require several of factors to favor me now to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, after his impressive performance to start third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth place ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

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