Lando Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas Grand Prix Win

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race following 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 penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will secure the title 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 opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

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

After Qatar, the last event of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

• Piastri's challenging run of form continued as his championship chances 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 point for 10th after starting at the rear

At the start, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But after an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

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

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

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

Norris stopped five circuits after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to warm up, soon closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

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

He was told to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily could defend against Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren car began to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

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

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at least theoretically, even if he requires issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken nose section

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

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating race from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

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

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

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

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 worst qualifying performance of his racing life