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

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer 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 now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will claim the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that first turn," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to secure second. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the last event of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

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

• A superb win for Max Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

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

From the beginning, Lando Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from pole position from Verstappen

But following an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

That enabled Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris lost second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

Russell undertook an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

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

Verstappen was could return still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned behind George Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tires to warm up, soon closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to manage the rest of his race, effectively questioning whether he should accept second place or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the margin increased significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he requires problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to optimize all we've have," Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a damaged front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Just try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require 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 ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive showing to qualify in third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar secured eighth place ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could employ his electric start to salvage a point after the worst qualifying performance of his career