Lando Norris Edges Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Victory

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

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will claim the title in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

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

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

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

After Qatar, the last event of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

The main developments of among Formula 1's most prestigious races were:

• Lando Norris continued his momentum towards the title despite the win to Max Verstappen

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

• A superb victory for Verstappen to keep 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

From the beginning, Lando Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

However after an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the turn

That enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris lost second place to George Russell

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

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

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was could return still in the lead, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, soon reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, effectively asking whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the margin increased substantially as the McLaren began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he needs issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

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

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri began in fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a damaged nose section

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

Piastri finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on the durable compound after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a disappointing race from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Simply attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to go my way now to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car lacking the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic showing to start in third in the wet

Hadjar took eighth place before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, up to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was could employ his strong beginning to rescue a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his racing life