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

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will secure the championship in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to get second. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

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

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the title despite the victory to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his title hopes diminish

• A excellent win for Verstappen to keep him in the championship battle

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

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But after an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

That allowed Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen remained on track

Norris pitted five circuits after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, quickly closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his engineer how to run the rest of his race, effectively asking whether he should accept second place or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the margin increased substantially as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, although he requires issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to maximise all we've got," Max Verstappen stated

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

Piastri began fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention 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 out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres following pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a disappointing race from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Simply attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require several of things to favor me now to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry, after his heroic showing to start third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar took eighth ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

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

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life