Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Claims Vegas F1 Race Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

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

The Briton will secure the championship in the Qatar 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 first half of the season, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

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

"It's still a good result to get second place. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

Following 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 were:

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the championship losing the win to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his title hopes diminish

• A excellent victory for Max Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place following starting at the back

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from starting first from Verstappen

However after an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris also second place to George Russell

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

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his race engineer how to run the rest of his race, effectively questioning whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the gap extended significantly as the McLaren began to experience a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Despite dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at least theoretically, even if he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to pass him

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

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri started fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit following being hit by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a damaged nose section

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

Piastri ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to go my way now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his impressive showing to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his career