Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Takes Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will secure the championship in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

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

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

After Qatar, the final race of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Lando Norris continued his progress towards the championship despite the victory to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging performance streak continued as his championship chances diminish

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th following starting at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

However after an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the corner

This allowed Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

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

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

Verstappen was able to return still in the lead, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined after Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, soon closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was told to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could defend against Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the margin extended significantly as the McLaren began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Despite losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

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

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've got," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but lost two places on the opening lap following being clouted by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

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

Piastri ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require several of things to favor me at this stage to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic showing to qualify in third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar took eighth ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a championship point after the worst qualifying session of his racing life