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

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

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty 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 more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

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

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

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

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship losing the victory to Verstappen

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

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

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

From the beginning, Lando Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from pole position from Verstappen

But after an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the turn

This enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver lost second place to Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided 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 Max Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver stopped five circuits after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was readily could defend against Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

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

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

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've got," Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends 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"

Oscar Piastri began fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a damaged nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound after stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

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

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Just try to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the best position 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 missing the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his impressive performance to start third in the wet weather

Hadjar secured eighth place before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was could employ his strong beginning to rescue a championship point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life