Lando Norris now leads a thirty point lead over fellow driver Oscar Piastri with only 58 points up for grabs in the remaining events
McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to his first world title with second place in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen
Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend
The Briton will win 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 impressive in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six races
"Max had a strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris
"It's still a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"
Following Qatar, the final race of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th
The main developments of one of Formula 1's most high-profile races included:
Lando Norris continued his progress towards the championship despite the win to Max Verstappen
Piastri's challenging run of form continued as his title hopes diminish
A excellent win for Verstappen to maintain him in the championship battle
Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th after starting at the rear
Verstappen Remains in Title Battle
Verstappen overtakes Lando Norris at the start after the British driver went off line at the opening turn
From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his lead from starting first from Verstappen
But following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the corner
That allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris also the runner-up spot to Russell
Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with 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 after the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later
The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber
Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34
Norris asked his race engineer how to run the remainder of his event, essentially asking whether he should accept second place or attack
He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily able to defend against Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car began to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined
Despite dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while chasing Verstappen
The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, although he requires problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him
"It's still a big gap, we always try to maximise everything we've have," Max Verstappen said
"During the coming events we will attempt to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"
'Frustrating Event' for Oscar Piastri
Oscar Piastri started fifth but dropped two positions 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 lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period
The Australian ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on the durable compound following pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays
"It proved to be a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live
Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of factors to favor me now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"
Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his heroic performance to start third in the wet weather
Hadjar secured eighth ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton
The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards
He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was could use his electric start to rescue a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his racing life
