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

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will win the championship 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 opening stages of the season, has not finished on the podium for six races

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

"It remains a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

Following Qatar, the last event of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Lando Norris continued his momentum towards the title losing the win to Verstappen

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

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th after starting at the rear

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

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

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

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver stopped five laps following the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Norris returned after Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, soon reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the rest of his event, effectively asking whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily could defend against Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the gap extended substantially as the McLaren began to experience a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to maximise everything we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in 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"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

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

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Just attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need quite a lot of things to favor me at this stage to win, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles 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 finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his impressive performance to start third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, up to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a point after the worst qualifying performance of his racing life