Norris Edges Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Win

McLaren's Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

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

The Briton will secure the championship in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

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

After Qatar, the final race of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Norris maintained his momentum towards the title losing the win to Verstappen

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

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place after beginning at the rear

At the start, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

However after an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

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

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

Russell undertook an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver 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 close in on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Norris rejoined after George Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

Norris asked his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, effectively questioning whether he should accept second place or attack

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could defend against Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren car began to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

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

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

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in 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"

Piastri started in fifth but lost two places on the first circuit following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a broken nose section

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

Piastri ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating event from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his heroic performance to start third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, up to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was could use his strong beginning to salvage a point after the poorest qualifying session of his racing life