Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Win

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden championship with second place in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will claim the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

"It remains a good result to get second. I've got to praise Verstappen 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 prestigious races included:

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the title despite the victory to Max Verstappen

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

• A superb win for Max Verstappen to maintain him in the championship battle

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place following starting at the rear

At the start, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

However following an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

This enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver also second place to George Russell

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

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

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

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris returned behind Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tires to settle, soon reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to run the rest of his event, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily could defend against Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren started to experience a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he requires issues for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've got," Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri started in fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on the durable compound following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a disappointing event from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Just attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need quite a lot of things to go my way now to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams lacking the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry, after his impressive performance to qualify in third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar took eighth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, rising to 13th on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a point after the worst qualifying session of his racing life