Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden championship with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris 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 next weekend

The Briton will secure the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place after beginning at the rear

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

However after an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris also the runner-up spot to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

Norris stopped five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

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

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on lap 34

The British driver asked his engineer how to manage the rest of his race, effectively asking whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Even with dropping almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one behind both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, although he requires problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

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

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

Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being hit by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged nose section

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on the durable compound after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

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

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to go my way now to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, following his impressive showing to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was could use his electric start to salvage a championship point following the worst qualifying performance of his career