Lando Norris Advances Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will secure the title in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy 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"

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

The main developments of among Formula 1's most high-profile races were:

• Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship losing the victory to Verstappen

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

• A superb victory for Max Verstappen to keep him in the championship battle

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for tenth place after starting at the rear

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

However after an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver lost second place to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

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

The McLaren driver pitted five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to warm up, quickly reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, essentially asking whether he should accept second place or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the margin extended substantially as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs problems for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

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

"During the coming events we will try to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a damaged nose section

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on the durable compound following stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating event from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of things to favor me at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his impressive showing to qualify third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, up to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was could use his strong beginning to salvage a championship point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life