Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

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

Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will secure the championship in the desert 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 first half of the season, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Max had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a good result to get second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and Red Bull"

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

The main developments of one of Formula 1's most high-profile races included:

• Norris continued his momentum towards the title losing the win to Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging run of form continued as his championship chances wane

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

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

From the beginning, Lando Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

But after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

That enabled Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris also second place to Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

George Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

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

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his race engineer how to run the remainder of his event, effectively questioning whether he should accept second or attack

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily able to 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 thus far not been defined

Even with dropping almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could hold off Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, although he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've have," Verstappen said

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

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

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

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Just attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of factors to favor me now to win, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry, after his heroic performance to qualify in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to salvage a point after the poorest qualifying performance of his career