Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

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

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

Norris will claim the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

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

"Max had a strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second. I've got to praise Max and his team"

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

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

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

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

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place after starting at the back

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from starting first from Verstappen

But following an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

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

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

Russell made an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

Norris pitted five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, quickly reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris asked his engineer how to manage the remainder 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 little opportunity. Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the margin increased significantly as the McLaren car began to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Even with losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at least mathematically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

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

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the opening lap following being hit by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a broken front wing

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on the durable compound following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing event from essentially start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to favor me now to win, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic showing to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, up to 13th on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was could use his strong beginning to salvage a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his racing life