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

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to his first world title with second place in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to praise Max and his team"

After Qatar, the last event of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the championship despite the win to Verstappen

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

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

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

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

However following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

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

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

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

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

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

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to manage the rest of his race, essentially questioning whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended significantly as the McLaren began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he requires issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

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

"During the coming events we will try to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on the durable compound following stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, after his impressive performance to start in third in the wet

Hadjar secured eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and 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 slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a point after the poorest qualifying performance of his career