Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Win

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

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will win the title in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

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

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

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

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

• Piastri's difficult performance streak persisted as his title hopes diminish

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th after starting at the back

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his lead from pole position from Verstappen

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

That allowed Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver lost second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

Norris pitted five circuits after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was told to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased significantly as the McLaren started to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at least theoretically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to maximise all we've got," Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit following being hit by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on hard tyres following pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating race from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Just attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need quite a lot of things to favor me now to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic performance to qualify in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, up to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was able to use his electric start to salvage a point following the worst qualifying performance of his career