Lando Norris Advances Nearer to Title as Verstappen Claims Vegas Grand Prix Win

McLaren's Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden world title with second place in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will secure the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than 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 top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

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

After Qatar, the final race of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Norris maintained his momentum towards the title despite the victory to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging run of form continued as his championship chances diminish

• A excellent win for Max Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place following 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 starting first from Max Verstappen

However following an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner

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

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

Russell made an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the first place, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to settle, quickly closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his race engineer how to run the remainder of his event, essentially questioning whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was readily could repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he requires issues for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to maximise everything we've got," Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri started fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was could repass 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 given a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a frustrating race from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, following his impressive showing to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, up to 13th on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could employ his strong beginning to salvage a point following the worst qualifying session of his career