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

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to his first championship with runner-up position 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 after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris 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 strong in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

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

After 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:

• Norris maintained his progress towards the title losing the victory to Max Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th following beginning at the back

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from pole position from Verstappen

However following an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

That enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver also the runner-up spot to George 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 slowly stamped his authority on the race

Russell made an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

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

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned after George Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

The British driver asked his engineer how to run the rest of his race, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily could defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased significantly as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - only one less than the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to optimize everything we've got," Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a damaged nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also 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 entire race on the durable compound following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a disappointing race from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Simply try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to go my way now to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, after his impressive showing to start in third in the wet

Isack Hadjar secured eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was could use his electric start to rescue a championship point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life