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

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will secure the championship in the Qatar as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

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

After Qatar, the last event 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 progress towards the title losing the win to Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his title hopes diminish

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th following starting at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

But following an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

This allowed Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver lost second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

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

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

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

Lando Norris rejoined after George Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to warm up, soon closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

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

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was readily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the margin increased significantly as the McLaren car began to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

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

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at least mathematically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

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

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri started fifth but lost two places on the first circuit following being hit by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken nose section

He trailed 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 the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing event from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, after his heroic showing to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to use his electric start to rescue a point following the poorest qualifying performance of his career