Norris Advances Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Win

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 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 seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the season, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to praise 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 prestigious races included:

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

• Oscar Piastri's difficult run of form persisted as his title hopes diminish

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th after beginning at the back

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

But following an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

That allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead 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 Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

George Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

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

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Norris returned behind George Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver asked his engineer how to run the remainder of his race, effectively asking whether he should settle for second or attack

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Despite dropping almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - just one behind both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri began fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit after being hit by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a broken front wing

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

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on the durable compound following stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating race from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of things to go my way now to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his heroic showing to start in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to employ his strong beginning to salvage a championship point after the worst qualifying session of his racing life