Norris Edges Closer to Title as Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Win

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

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim the championship in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that first turn," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to get second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the last event of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

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

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

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

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

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

However after an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

This allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris lost the runner-up spot to Russell

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

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

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

Verstappen was could return still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Norris rejoined after Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

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

He was told to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily able to defend against Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased substantially as the McLaren began to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was could defend against Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - just one behind both McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at least mathematically, although he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've got," Max Verstappen said

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

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a damaged nose section

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

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

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require several of things to go my way now to win, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive performance to qualify in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, up 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 use his electric start to rescue a championship point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life