Norris Edges Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Win

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

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will claim the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Max 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 secure second. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

Following 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 high-profile races included:

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

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his title hopes wane

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

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

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

But following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the turn

That enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

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

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

Verstappen was could return still in the lead, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, quickly closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

The British driver inquired 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 "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Despite losing almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at least theoretically, even if he requires issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

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

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

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being hit by Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a damaged nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

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

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require several of factors to go my way now to take the title, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his impressive showing to start third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, up to 13th on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

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