Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to his first championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

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

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

Following Qatar, the last event of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

• Piastri's difficult performance streak persisted as his championship chances wane

• A excellent win for Max Verstappen to keep him in the championship battle

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th after starting at the rear

At the start, Lando Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

But after an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

That allowed Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver also the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

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

Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tyres to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34

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

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased substantially as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at least mathematically, even if he needs issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

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

He followed Lawson's teammate 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 tire change phase

The Australian finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating event from essentially start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to favor me now to win, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car lacking the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic performance to qualify in third in the wet

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

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

He got stuck in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a point following the worst qualifying performance of his career