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

McLaren's Lando Norris moved closer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will secure the title in the desert as long as he does not lose 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 top three for six races

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

"It remains a good result to get second. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

Following Qatar, the last event of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

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

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

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

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

At the start, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

However after an forceful move in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

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

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

Russell made an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined after George Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on lap 34

The British driver asked his race engineer how to run the remainder of his race, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily could defend against Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren started to experience a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Even with dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was could hold off Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to pass him

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

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the event 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 lost two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a damaged nose section

He followed 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 tire change phase

Piastri finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on hard tyres after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a frustrating event from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need 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 take advantage if circumstances change"

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

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

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, up to 13th on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a championship point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life