Lando Norris Advances Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first championship with second place in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will claim the title in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

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

The main developments of among Formula 1's most prestigious races were:

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the title losing the win to Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult performance streak continued as his title hopes diminish

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place following starting at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from starting first from Verstappen

But following an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the corner

That allowed Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris also second place to Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

Norris stopped five laps after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was able to return still in the first place, George Russell having been unable 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 tires to settle, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his engineer how to manage the rest of his race, essentially questioning whether he should accept second place or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin increased substantially as the McLaren started to experience a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Despite dropping almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to 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 behind both McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he needs issues for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've have," Max 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 extremely pleased of everyone"

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

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

Piastri ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating event from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require several of factors to go my way now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his heroic showing to qualify in third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, up to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to employ his strong beginning to salvage a point after the worst qualifying performance of his racing life