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

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden world title with second place in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will win the championship 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 not finished on the podium for six races

"Max had a strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that first turn," said 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 championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

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

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

• A superb victory for Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

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

At the start, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

However after an forceful move 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

That enabled Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris lost second place to Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

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

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

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the lead, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Norris rejoined after George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tires to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his engineer how to manage the rest of his race, essentially asking whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was told to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Even with losing almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri started fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a broken front wing

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a frustrating event from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of things to favor me now to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive performance to start third in the wet

Hadjar took eighth place before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a point after the worst qualifying session of his career