Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Claims Vegas F1 Race Win

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

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will claim the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

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

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

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

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the title despite the win to Max Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his championship chances diminish

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

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

At the start, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

However after an forceful move in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the corner

That enabled Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

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

Russell made 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 ten laps later

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Lando 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

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to run the rest of his event, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was told to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren started to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

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

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - just one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires issues for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

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

"During the coming events 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 started in fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged nose section

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 repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating event from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need several of factors to favor me now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

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

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

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, up to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was could employ his electric start to salvage a championship point after the worst qualifying session of his career