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

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden world title with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after 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 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

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to get second. I've got to praise Max and his team"

Following Qatar, the last event of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Norris continued his momentum towards the title despite the win to Max Verstappen

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

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

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

At the start, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from starting first from Verstappen

But following an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner

This enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver also second place to George Russell

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

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

Norris pitted five laps after the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

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

Norris returned after George Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

Norris asked his engineer how to run the rest of his event, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the margin extended substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Despite losing almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was could defend against Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

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

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

Piastri started in fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a broken nose section

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 could repass during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a disappointing race from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to favor me at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams car lacking the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his impressive showing to start third in the wet weather

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

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

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