Lando Norris Advances Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Claims Las Vegas F1 Race Win

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden world title with second place in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

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

"Max had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

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

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

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

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

• Piastri's challenging performance streak continued as his title hopes wane

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th following beginning at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was true to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from starting first from Verstappen

However after an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the corner

This allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris lost the runner-up spot to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, 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

Norris pitted five circuits following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Norris returned after George Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

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

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

Despite dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one behind both McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at least theoretically, even if he requires problems for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise everything we've got," Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will try to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the opening lap following being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a damaged nose section

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits 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 finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require several of factors to favor me at this stage to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his heroic showing to start third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was able to use his strong beginning to salvage a point following the worst qualifying performance of his racing life