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

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer to his first championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim the championship in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

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

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

The main developments of one of Formula 1's most high-profile races included:

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

• Oscar Piastri's difficult performance streak persisted as his championship chances diminish

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th following starting at the rear

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

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

This allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver lost second place to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

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

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

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 even with his fresher tyres

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

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, effectively questioning whether he should accept second place or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was readily could defend against Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the margin extended substantially as the McLaren began to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to optimize all we've have," Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri started in fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit after being hit by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged nose section

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing event from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to go my way now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive showing to start in third in the wet weather

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

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

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was could employ his electric start to salvage a championship point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life