Lando Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Las Vegas F1 Race Win

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

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton 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

The Australian driver, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," 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 takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's difficult run of form continued as his title hopes diminish

• A excellent victory for Verstappen to maintain him in the championship battle

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th after beginning at the back

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

However following an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

That enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver also the runner-up spot to Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

George Russell made an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen remained on track

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

Verstappen was could return still in the first place, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Norris rejoined after Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

The British driver asked his race engineer how to run the remainder of his event, effectively asking whether he should accept second or attack

He was told to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, even if he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've got," Max Verstappen said

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

Oscar Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on hard tyres after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly need several of factors to favor me now to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his impressive showing to start third in the wet weather

Hadjar secured eighth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point following the worst qualifying session of his career