Lando Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Win

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

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will secure the championship in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

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

"It remains a good result to secure second. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

After Qatar, the final race of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the title losing the win to Verstappen

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

• A excellent victory for Max Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

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

From the beginning, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from starting first from Verstappen

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

That enabled Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver lost second place to Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

George Russell made an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

Norris stopped five laps after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

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

Norris rejoined after Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on lap 34

The British driver inquired his engineer how to manage the rest of his race, effectively asking whether he should accept second or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could defend against Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the margin extended substantially as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've have," Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a damaged front wing

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 could overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a disappointing race from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of factors to go my way now to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams missing the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, after his impressive performance to start in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was could employ his electric start to salvage a point after the poorest qualifying session of his career